The 2nd Commons and Overseas Territories Speakers’ Conference (COTSC) has been held at the Anguilla House of Assembly from 3 to 5 April 2023 on the theme of ‘Deepening Parliamentary Democracy in the British Overseas Territories - A Roadmap to 2030’. Falklands was represented by Keith Biles, Speaker for the Legislative Assembly.
The Falkland Islands government, FIG, has established a vaccination planning group, although there is not a delivery date for the Covid 19 doses to be sent from the United Kingdom.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised he will raise the matter of the Falklands fishery in the European Union after Labour MP Derek Twigg made representations on behalf of the Islands at Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday.
In a Saturday communiqué of the latest UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council 2020, the UK government reiterated support for the OTs self-determination, its commitment to supporting the OTs in building successful and resilient economies, with “reasonable assistance needs of Territories where financial self-sufficiency is not possible”, and referring to UK's withdrawal from the EU, acknowledges it will impact on OTs, particularly in the areas of funding and trade.
This week Penguin News gave up its editorial space to allow for the publication of a last-minute Op-ed from Wendy Morton MP, Minister responsible for the Falkland Islands in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, on the Joint Ministerial Council 2020
A new book featuring the historic Government House in the Falkland Islands looks at the unique histories of over fifty Vice-Regal Residences of the Crown in the Commonwealth Realms, Crown Dependencies, and Overseas Territories across the world.
Argentina is planning to intensify its policy to claim sovereignty over the Falklands and other South Atlantic Islands with a road map that contemplates three immediate objectives, reinstate in the Organization of American States the claim, resurface the legal threat against oil companies operating in South Atlantic (Falklands) waters and put pressure on the European Union so that a post-Brexit trade agreement with the UK does not include the Falklands in the list of Overseas Territories.
Ministers updated Parliament on Wednesday on a major step forward by the UK’s Overseas Territories to help improve global corporate transparency. The written statement welcomes commitments from eight Overseas Territories to introduce publicly accessible registers detailing who owns the companies in their Territory.
A ten week Call of Evidence was launched by the UK Government on Friday, to gather knowledge on safeguarding nature in the UK Overseas Territories. Many of the Overseas Territories are globally significant in their ecological richness, containing over 90% of UK’s marine and terrestrial nature. They are hotspots for biodiversity with an estimated 3,300 endemic species, but they are also highly vulnerable to environmental change.
The two-day Overseas Territories Attorneys General Conference 2019 kicked off Tuesday morning, with AGs and other delegates from 13 jurisdictions gathering in Cayman to discuss issues of mutual interest. The issues scheduled to be discussed included Brexit, anti-corruption, natural disasters, criminal justice and human rights.