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Falklands celebrates success of JMC week of discussions with UK and OTs officials

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty, front line, with OTs delegates. Richard Hyslop in second row

Both hosts and participants underlined the success of the recent Join Ministerial Council 2925 held in London and which brings together UK ministers and officials with Overseas Territories’ representatives.

“It has been a very exciting week in London bringing together the UK and the whole Overseas Territories family, including the Falkland Islands, a place I have visited in the past, and have strong affection, although we know the Falklands is going through its own democratic processes at the moment. However Falklands have been well represented here,“ pointed out Foreign Office Overseas Territories minister Stephen Doughty.

He added that “many issues which affect your security, your safety and your prosperity to the future have been discussed here alongside our family. So it has been a great conversation, we’ve brought all ministers across the UK with Ots”.

“We look forward to working together in our shared priorities on defense, security, growth and prosperity on a range of topics into the future”.

Falklands Government London Office Representative Richard Hyslop was equally delighted with the discussions, meetings and contacts. “Falklands have been delighted to join our friends from the UKOTs and UK for productive discussions on our shared priorities, at Whitehall”

FIGO representative Hyslop also pointed out that after several days of plenary sessions it was so important so have a close meeting with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and likewise “the very special occasion when myself and Governor Martin-Reynolds and the other OTs representatives and elected politicians gathered at Buckingham Palace for a small reception hosted by His Majesty the King. It is great to have a monarch that takes such a keen interest in his Overseas Territories.”

Hyslop recalled the wide range of issues addressed at the Foreign Office, from finance to sports, AI, Health, cyber-attacks to trade and how to grow the trading relationship between UK and OTs. Not only working together with the UK, but how OTs can grow more broadly through the trade agreements UK is negotiating and how that is able to benefit OTs. “As an OT, Falklands are very keen in exploring those opportunities and what may be available”

And so important for the Falklands and its environment policies was the launching of the UK/OTs Biosecurity Strategy, “a really important document and a really good example of UK and OTs jointly working together on such a sensitive issue.

The launching of the strategy project is really important but what’s actually more significant is that measures contained within, delivering them in such a way we will be looking closely to their implementation with the help from such organizations as Darwin Plus, Blue Belt Program.

The Minister for the UK Overseas Territories and the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories convened the 2025 Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in London from 24 to 27 November. Ministers and representatives from across the UK government attended the JMC.  

This year’s JMC was guided by a shared commitment to ‘Protect, Grow, Sustain – Together’, reflecting the fact that the Territories are members of the British family. It renewed commitments to a partnership built on mutual respect and shared responsibility, with a shared ambition to deliver real-world impact for our communities.   

This ministerial communiqué was issued following the meeting.

UK and Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council 2025: communiqué