Delegations of the Gibraltar and United Kingdom Governments have met in Gibraltar on Friday for a full day of discussions covering a wide range of issues.
The House of Lords EU Committee will next week take evidence from representatives of eight of the British Overseas Territories as its scrutiny of the impact of Brexit continues. Among the territories taking part in the session and giving evidence to the committee will be Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat and St Helena.
The UK should stay in the single market and customs union until a final Brexit deal is in force, according to the CBI. Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the business lobby group, said it was impossible that all the details of a new trade deal with the European Union would be in place by March 2019. That is when talks about the UK's withdrawal are due to formally finish.
Brexit will “undoubtedly” harm the UK’s ability to work with other EU countries on foreign issues and its influence in the world, warns former Conservative foreign affairs minister William Hague, including protection of the Falkland Islands, and ensuring solidarity among 28 countries.
The British Embassy in Argentina has selected 21 project bids submitted by government agencies and civil society organizations which will award almost 10 million pesos worth of funding during the second half of 2017. The initiative follows on the spirit of the 2016 September Joint Statement.
Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson confirmed that the British government is investing £100 million to attract highly skilled researchers to the UK through its new Ernest Rutherford Fund. The Fund will provide fellowships for early-career and senior researchers, from the developed world and from emerging research powerhouses such as India, China, Brazil and Mexico, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a world-leader in science and research.
Ascension Island, home to around 800 people, is even more cut off than it used to be after weekly flights linking the island to the UK were stopped - due to a dodgy runway and the wrong kind of RAF aircraft, according to a BBC report. The British overseas territory is the tip of an old volcano in the Atlantic Ocean, mid-way between Africa and Brazil. It's so remote, that when the Portuguese discovered it on Ascension Day in 1501, they didn't even bother colonizing it.
Business leaders from the City of London are to send a delegation to Brussels with a proposal for a post-Brexit free trade deal for financial services, it is reported. According to the Financial Times, the group will be led by former City minister Mark Hoban as banks fear the fallout from Brexit negotiations if access to EU markets is curtailed.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri is scheduled to meet in Hamburg with British Prime Minister Theresa May to reinforce cooperation and joint efforts but with the difference resulting from the dispute over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands remaining on the table, according to government sources in Buenos Aires.
Economists have downgraded Britain’s growth prospects in the wake of political uncertainty following the general election and as a prolonged Brexit drag on business investment looms. New forecasts by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) show that the UK economy will grow by just 1.3% in 2017, a substantial downward revision from an earlier forecast of 1.7%.