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Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Mr. Rino Donosepoetro inside the Standard Chartered Plc's premises in Stanley

Headlines: Bank is in great shape; FIG investments safe; HMG respond to President Kirchner; Buckle up; Public holiday.

Bank is in great shapeIN the light of the global financial situation, Standard Chartered Bank's Stanley Manager, has offered reassurance to individuals, companies and the Falkland Islands Government, all of whom have significant funds held by the bank. "At this time, we can reassure you that, despite the turmoil in the financial markets, Standard Chartered remains in great shape. We have a clear and consistent strategy; we do business in markets that we know intimately, with products we fully understand, and with customers with whom we seek to nurture and build relationships. "At Standard Chartered's Interim Results announcement in August, we demonstrated that we are well capitalised, with a strong liquidity position and no direct exposure to the US sub-prime housing situation. "We had another half-year of record performance and strong organic growth which, despite the financial turmoil, has differentiated us from our competitors," said Mr Donosepoetro. Continued on page2FIG investments safe IN the Falklands, with an economy largely based on the export of primary products such as wool and fish, we are used to being at the mercy of global factors beyond our control. However, the fact that unlike the majority of countries in the world we have money in the bank and no national debt - indeed interest on FIG's investments is its second biggest source of income - has given us a feeling of security, until now. Recently, however, with financial institutions crashing like packs of cards or requiring multi-billion dollar bale-outs, even those who don't really know the difference between the "Footsy" and a fluffy kitten, will have caught something of the prevailing nervousness. Thinking beyond the personal questions - 'What is going to happen to my mortgage, my life savings or my job?' - the next obvious and equally troubling question is: 'What's the position of the Falkland Islands Government's investments?' "Not brilliant, but not disastrous," was the assessment of Councillor Mike Summers, Acting Chairman of last week's meeting of Standing Finance Committee (SFC), on the basis of an interim report on FIG's investments presented to the SFC by the Treasury's Financial Services Manager, Simon Wilkie. Newly returned Financial Secretary, Keith Padgett, told the meeting that the situation, "...could have been significantly worse." He added that the Government's investments were being well-managed for stable, long-term growth by Newtons and HSBC, who had both, at his request, recently written to assure him of the security of their positions despite the current situation. Continued on page 3 HMG respond to President KirchnerTHE United Nations UK delegation have replied to the remarks made by the Argentine President Cristina Kirchner at the UN's General Assembly, published in last week's Penguin News."The British Government attaches great importance to the principle of self-determination as set out in Article 1.2 of the Charter of the United Nations and Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. That principle underlies our position on the Falkland Islands," said a spokesperson. "The Falkland Islands are not a colonial enclave. Britain's overseas territories are British for as long as they want to remain British. The people of the Falkland Islands have chosen to retain their link with Britain. "The democratically elected representatives of the Falkland Islands once again expressed their own views clearly when they visited the United Nations for this year's debate in the Committee of 24. They asked the Committee to recognise that they, like any other people, were entitled to exercise the right of self-determination. They reiterated that the people of the Falkland Islands did not wish for any change in the status of the Islands. "There can be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until such time as the Islanders so wish," said the spokesperson, adding, "The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands." Buckle upAN anomaly was recently identified in the law requiring adults (over 14 years) to wear seat belts. It appears that the seat belt law was amended in May 2006, with the intention of extending the law requiring persons to wear seat belts across the whole of the Islands. It was recently discovered that unfortunate errors in drafting the amended law meant that the effect was to remove any obligation on adults to wear seat belts. That situation was clearly never the policy intention behind the 2006 amendment to the law. Having discovered this legal loophole the Wearing of Seat Belts (Amendment) Regulations 2008 were drafted and were approved by resolution of Legislative Council on September 26, so that with immediate effect from that time the wearing of seat belts is indeed a legal requirement for all adult and child motorists – drivers and passengers. Identification of the anomaly in the law does potentially affect a very small number of past prosecutions for seat belt offences. Executive Council has therefore invited the Governor to exercise his power to refer these cases to the Supreme Court for review under the Criminal Justice (Amendment) (Miscarriages of Justice) Ordinance 2006. Superintendent of the Royal Falkland Islands Police, Paul Elliott said: "The road safety education programme of recent months appears to have paid off so that thankfully the majority of motorists continued to wear seat belts, even after it became apparent that the legal basis for this requirement was flawed. "Let's not forget that the wearing of seat belts is a matter of common sense," he said. "Strict enforcement of the seat belt law will remain a priority for the police to ensure compliance with this common sense and life preserving measure is maintained". An accident on Wednesday morning where a Cable and Wireless Land Rover left the MPA road and rolled over provided the latest testimony to the fact that seat belts save lives. The driver and passenger of the vehicle walked away with minor cuts and bruises despite extensive damage to their vehicle. CorrectionIN LAST week's front page article on climate change, we quoted a fuel consumption figure for the Stanley Power Station, which was provided by Helen Otley, of the Environmental Planning Office. This information was incorrect and should have read that the displacement of fuel for the power station by the wind farm is approximately 20%. Public holidayMONDAY October 6, 2008, is Peat Cutting Monday. All Government Departments (other than those providing essential services) will be closed.