For the first time the Falkland Islands have underlined the significance of the hydrocarbons industry as a fully integrated sector of the local economy as it effectively and successfully moves from the exploration to the exploitation stage with first shipments scheduled for 2017. At the same time it regrets that South American companies are not participating of the logistical opportunities because of Argentine interference.
Argentine tourists have staged a British invasion, with record numbers flying in to the UK in the last year, according to an article by Matt Chorley published in the Daily Mail. The influx of more than 100.000 visitors, up more than a quarter year-on-year, comes despite renewed tensions between the two countries over the status of the Falkland Islands.
The Specialist Oil & Gas Advisor for the Falkland Islands Government (FIG), Anne Drinkwater has stated that the Falkland Islands are an attractive location for the oil and gas industry and has praised FIG five year plan which sets the desired economic and social context for development generally.
Falkland Islands Government Director of Natural Resources John Barton said that he is confident that there won’t be any repetition in the future of recent offences by companies licensed to fish in Falklands waters.
The Falkland Islands are only asking the international community to support the fundamental human right of Falkland Islanders to choose their own form of government, to exercise their right to self determination, said lawmaker Mike Summers during his presentation at the United Nations Decolonization Committee (24) Caribbean regional seminar, in reference to the recent referendum held in the Islands, whose sovereignty is disputed by the UK and Argentina.
As from 2016 the British Overseas Territory of St Helena in the mid Atlantic will have regular flight connections when the island’s first airport opens which opens a magnificent opportunity for promoting tourism and for Saints living overseas to visit their homeland.
Falkland Islands elected lawmaker Mike Summers will attend next week the Caribbean Regional Seminar of the Special Committee on Decolonization which is to be held in Quito, Ecuador in anticipation of the main C24 annual meeting in New York.
By MLA Jan Cheek - I was in The Hague in April on the last stop of my four capital trip planned to spread information about our decisive referendum. After London, a colleague and I visited Brussels before heading off to separate destinations. I visited Dublin and then returned to London to attend the funeral of Baroness Thatcher.
The Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and Britain’s other Overseas Territories should be given a seat in the Commons, UK Independent Party MEP Nigel Farage said on Tuesday. The UKIP leader claims their voices are dangerously ‘muted’ in Britain and they should be allowed to elect their own ‘MP for the Territories’, following on the French experience.
UK conditioned a possible re-launching of agreements on hydrocarbons and fisheries in the South Atlantic to Argentina accepting ‘there will be no sovereignty negotiations’ regarding the Malvinas Islands and called for the Argentine government to respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders.