Virgin Islands strengthens ties with Middle East

Government of the British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has renewed links with investors and businesses from the Middle East, and has reaffirmed the positive advantages of doing business with the BVI, following two conferences and a series of meetings in Dubai last week.

A small BVI delegation attended the Hedge Funds World Conference at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ (STEP) ‘Opportunities for the Flow of New Wealth Conference’.

Delegation member, Executive Director of the BVI International Finance Centre (IFC) Ms. Elise Donovan, told the Department of Information and Public Relations, “The BVI has become an attractive option to investors from the Gulf States looking to acquire BVI company structures for a multiplicity of investing and other cross-border transactions.”

She continued, “BVI trusts and fiduciary services and funds and investment business are popular in the Middle East for wealth management, investing, structuring ownership and control, and for planning for the succession of assets.”

In explaining why, Ms. Donovan said, “BVI’s structures are easy-to-use, flexible, widely-accepted and cost-competitive compared to other products being offered in the region.”

The IFC head referenced Conyers Dill & Pearman as an example, stating the company was recognised for its BVI office’s involvement in the Mostorod Oil Refinery Project, named ‘Project Finance Deal of the Year’ by the International Financial Law Review’s (IFLR) Middle East Awards.

Conyers Dill & Pearman acted for Citadel Capital, a listed Egyptian private equity firm, on the US$3.7 billion financing for the redevelopment of an oil refinery near Cairo. The deal was the largest-ever financing project in Africa and among the largest inward-investments into Egypt; resulting in the firm’s IFLR award.

Commenting on the present BVI-Middle East relationship, Ms. Donovan said, “We were given a very warm welcome on our return to the United Arab Emirates and it is clear that many investors from across the region recognise the advantages of using BVI structures and services for conducting international business.”

She added, “Our aim is to strengthen and deepen the relationship the BVI has with the Middle East so that we can work more closely together in the future.”

The BVI delegation also included Deputy Secretary in the Premier’s Office Mr. Brodrick Penn, Chair of the Financial Services Business Development Committee Mrs. Lorna Smith, OBE, and Chief Operating Officer of the BVI IFC Ms. Maritza Mercer.

The BVI International Finance Centre’s mission is to further enhance and promote the Territory’s reputation so that the BVI is recognised as a globally integrated and responsible financial services jurisdiction.

Britain faces UN tribunal over Chagos Islands marine

Ruling by permanent court of arbitration in The Hague may challenge UK's unilateral declaration of marine protected area

• Owen Bowcott and John Vidal
• The Guardian, 
• 
  

Part of the Chagos archipelago. The UN tribunal could challenge Britain's declaration of a marine protected area and lead to the return of the Indian Ocean islands' exiled inhabitants. Photograph: Corbis

Britain's colonial-era decision to sever an Indian Ocean archipelago fromMauritius and turn it into a US military base will have to be justified before an international tribunal – a process that could lead to the return of the islands' exiled inhabitants.

The unexpected ruling this month by the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague that it can hear the case is a challenge to the UK's unilateral declaration in 2009 of a marine protected area around the Chagos Islands.

Decisions by the tribunal, which arbitrates in disputes over the United Nations law of the sea, are binding on the UK. At the preliminary hearing the UK's attempt to challenge the court's jurisdiction was defeated. Britain is now obliged to explain highly sensitive political decisions dating back to 1965.

The legal battle, begun more than two years ago, raises fundamental questions about who has sovereignty over the Indian Ocean territory. Mauritian government officials believe it could lead to the unravelling of Britain's disputed claim and the eventual return of the islanders.

The Mauritian prime minister, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, has also alleged that the decision to establish a 545,000 sq mile marine reserve was carried out in defiance of assurances given to him at the time by the then UK prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Talking to the Guardian in London, Ramgoolam said: "We welcome the fact that the UN tribunal will have the whole case before it when it next meets. Never before have [the UK] had to explain why they detached theChagos Islands from Mauritius."

Credit: Guardian graphics

In 1965, three years before Mauritius was given its independence, the UK decided to separate the Chagos Islands from the rest of its then Indian Ocean colony. The Mauritian government claims this was in breach of UN general assembly resolution 1514, passed in 1960, which specifically banned the breakup of colonies prior to independence.

The Chagos archipelago was subsequently declared to be part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) from which, in 1971, most of the 1,500 islanders were deported. The largest island, Diego Garcia, was then leased to the US as a strategic airbase. The lease is due to be renegotiated by December 2014.

"I was taken completely by surprise when the UK high commissioner came to see me [in 2009 to announce creation of the marine reserve]," the Mauritian leader explained.

"I said I was about to go and meet the [British] prime minister in Trinidad. I was on very good terms with Gordon Brown. I told [Brown] you must put a halt to the marine protected area.

"Gordon Brown said he would put a hold on the whole thing. He gave formal instructions to David Miliband [then foreign secretary] not to go ahead with it. But David Miliband ignored it. He wanted to show he was doing something for the environment."

A spokesman for David Miliband denied there had been any internal differences within the UK government. The spokesman said: "The marine protected area has been a great step forward and went through all proper government processes."

Mauritius does not recognise the 545,000 sq mile marine protection area (MPA) that Miliband set up around the islands before Labour lost power in 2009. According to Ramgoolam, the government was not properly consulted and Mauritians were denied the right to exploit waters they have fished for decades.

His government has said it fears that the marine zone effectively prevents any future resettlement by Chagossians because it does not allow any fishing in the zone. Fishing on around the island would be the only realistic means of living there.

"By creating the protected marine area, Britain did not take into account Mauritius's rights and those of the Chagossians it evicted from Chagos," said Ramgoolam.

Concern is also growing in Mauritius that the MPA, which is a biodiversity hotspot of global importance, is a "sham". It is patrolled for around six months of the year by a 35-year-old ocean-going tug which takes two days to cross the protected area.

However, an exemption in the MPA allows people from the US nuclear base on Diego Garcia to continue fishing. In 2010, more than 28 tonnes of fish was caught for use by personnel on the base.

"Mauritius is not opposed to a marine protected area. On the contrary, we support conservation. We are very happy to work against illegal fishing," said Ramgoolam.Further doubts about the real intentions of the Foreign office were raised by a 2010 WikiLeaks cable in which Colin Roberts, the FCO's director of overseas territories, told the US state department that there would be no "Man Fridays" left on the islands following the establishment of the MPA and that establishing the park would, "in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago's former residents". He added: "We do not regret the removal of the population." Some conservationists claim they were misled by the UK government. "I now regret my support of the marine sanctuary", said TV conservationist Ben Fogle.

The US-based Pew conservation group was instrumental in setting up the marine protected area, convincing many other British international conservation groups to support its "no take policy". Since then, many have supported the principle of the native Chagossians being given the right to return but most still support the MPA as it stands.

The European court of human right's decision last December that it had no jurisdiction to examine the Chagossians' claims that they been deprived of their right to return to the islands was widely seen as blocking off the main legal avenue for redress. The court ruled that because the islanders had received compensation in the 1980s, they had effectively renounced their rights.

But the legal confrontation at the permanent court of arbitration raises more fundamental issues of national sovereignty and transforms the issue into an inter-state dispute that resembles Anglo-Argentinian rows over the Falklands.

It is being fought within the arcane legal territory of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Uunclos), an area where the UK could be at disadvantage.

While Mauritius and the Seychelles have put in mutually agreed claims for large tracts of the nearby seabed, the UK does not appear to have put in any counter proposals to the UN commission on the limits of the continental shelf.

The Foreign Office said it was "disappointed" with the tribunal's decision. "It seems out of sync with other, similar cases and may slow the process down," it said. "However, this is only a procedural decision. It does not address the substance of the issues at hand – neither the arbitral tribunal's jurisdiction nor Mauritius's claim. We have no doubt about our sovereignty of Biot, and are confident that Mauritius' claims are without merit."

On the question of the marine reserve, the Foreign Office added: "The no-take MPA around the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) is the largest no-take MPA in the world. The MPA provides refuge and breeding sites for migratory and reef fish, marine mammals, birds, turtles, corals and other marine life. The MPA will help reduce regional loss of biodiversity and, it is hoped, in replenishing fish stocks in the Indian Ocean.

"The decision to create the MPA followed a full international consultation process, and careful consideration of the many issues involved."

Bermuda MP wants parliamentary discussion on UK relations

MP Walton Brown also addressed human rights, 

secondary and tertiary education, and electoral 

reform in his first address in the Bermuda Parliament.  

Maiden Speech in Parliament

Hansard–15 February 2013

Bermudasun.bm

Mr. Walton Brown: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 

The final point I will make, Mr. Speaker, relates to what I see as the most glaring omission—the most glaring omission—in the Throne Speech. And that has to do with an area of politics, an area of decision-making that gets at the very heart of how we make decisions and where the authority to make decisions lies. 

There was no comment, really, about the relationship between the Bermuda Government and the United Kingdom Government. We heard some earlier comments about the relationship between the Bermuda Government and the Governor, who represents the UK Government in Bermuda, with respect to the police service.

But there is a more fundamental issue, Mr. Speaker, because last December the United Kingdom Government formally established a panel of Ministers of all the Overseas Territories, a panel that the Overseas Territory Minister will himself chair. And if you read their mandate, Mr. Speaker, their mandate is to cover virtually every aspect and every area of governance for the Overseas Territories. So what you will see is—what I think I have seen and what I think has been the case since 1999—a gradual devolution of power back to the United Kingdom. 

The principle for arguing this point first came in 2003 when Lord Triesman (the Overseas Territories Minister at the time) argued that the line of demarcation between domestic affairs and international affairs was becoming increasingly blurred and, therefore, the UK may involve themselves in areas that the Overseas Territory might consider to be its exclusive domain under the Constitution—that has now been cast aside—that separation of power. 

And so what I would like to hear from the Government is what its position is with respect to its relationship with the United Kingdom. The British Prime Minister has already said he wants to take on what he calls “the tax havens.” Many consider Bermuda to be a tax haven, 

Mr. Speaker. It may well be that there are occasions when the interests of the UK are not necessarily aligned with the interests of Bermuda. And sometimes it is just plain misinformation that creates challenges for us. The most explicit example of misinformation that created a real challenge for Bermuda, Mr. Speaker, was in 2006 when the Home Office misinformed the European Union that Bermuda citizens, Overseas Territory citizens, did not have the right of abode in the UK. It was because of that misinformation, Mr. Speaker, that we were all subject to a visa regime of the Schengen group of countries in the European Union.

So as we move forward, Mr. Speaker, as this Government seeks to set out its course for our country, and as we seek to be the critical evaluators of what Government does, I ask for this Government to give real consideration to the future relationship that we might have with the UK under this new Ministerial Council, what it means, and if they could come back to us through Parliament and to the people, at some point in the not too-distant future, to outline how that relationship—in their view—is going to evolve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

“Chavez didn’t die; he multiplied.”

Chavez: Washington Nemesis, Latin American Hero

By Laura Carlsen, March 12, 2013

Foreign Policy in Focus

You could almost hear the sigh of relief coming out of Washington at the news of Hugo Chavez’s death on March 5.

President Obama issued a brief statement that failed even to offer condolences, forcing a senior State Department official to patch over the evident callousness and breach of diplomacy by offering his personal condolences the following day. 

Within moments of Chavez’s death, commercial media and mouthpieces for the U.S. government were verbally dancing on his grave and predicting the imminent demise of Chavismo—Chavez’s political legacy in Venezuela and abroad.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE 

French political interference in Kanaky Self-Determination

N-Calédonie: Marine Le Pen appelle ceux qui "rejettent l'indépendance" à s'unir

NOUMEA, 15 mars 2013 (AFP) - Marine Le Pen, la présidente du Front National, a exhorté vendredi à Nouméa les opposants à l'indépendance de la Nouvelle-Calédonie à se regrouper, en vue du référendum d'autodétermination entre 2014 et 2018. 

"Il y a des élections qui vont être fondamentales pour l'avenir de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et il est temps de s'y atteler", a déclaré à la presse Marine Le Pen. 

"Il faut tout tenter pour éviter la fragmentation de ceux qui rejettent l'indépendance. Je suis venue porter une réflexion sur le sujet, pour rencontrer les politiques locaux et voir s'il est possible d'envisager quelque chose pour la Nouvelle-Calédonie française", a-t-elle ajouté. 

Depuis l'accord de Nouméa (1998), un processus de décolonisation est en cours en Nouvelle-Calédonie, précédant un référendum d'autodétermination qui doit être organisé au cours de la mandature 2014/2018. 

Les élections territoriales de 2014, cruciales pour l'avenir politique du Caillou, aiguisent les ambitions, notamment au sein de la droite non-indépendantiste, qui se déchire. 

"Je suis convaincue que les élus, qui sont attachés à la France, vont se rendre compte qu'ils ont une mission qui les dépasse et qu'ils ne joueront pas indéfiniment avec le feu", a déclaré Marine Le Pen. 

Elle a proposé de créer "une structure électorale de rassemblement", avec une charte comportant "trois ou quatre points incontournables dont le principe de la Nouvelle-Calédonie française". 

La présidente du FN a également prôné l'organisation "le plus rapidement possible" du référendum d'autodétermination dont l'issue (contre l'indépendance:ndlr) ne fait, selon elle, "aucun doute". 

Marine Le Pen, à Nouméa jusqu'au 20 mars, a indiqué qu'elle consacrerait aussi son séjour à la "restructuration" de l'antenne locale de son parti. 

En perte de vitesse depuis 2009, le FN n'a aucun élu territorial et est quasiment absent du débat politique calédonien. Au premier tour de la présidentielle, Marine Le Pen avait toutefois obtenu 11,66% des suffrages.

Chavez: Lest We Forget

By Conn Hallinan

Foreign Policy in Focus

In early December 2001, I was searching through my files looking for a column topic. At the time I was writing on foreign policy for the San Francisco Examiner, one of the town’s two dailies. A back page clip I had filed and forgotten caught my attention: on November 7 the National Security Agency, the Pentagon, and the U.S. State Department had convened a two-day meeting on U.S. policy toward Venezuela. My first thought was, “Uh, oh.” 

I knew something about those kinds of meetings. There was one in 1953 just before the CIA and British intelligence engineered the coup in Iran that put the despicable Shah into power. Same thing for the 1963 coup in South Vietnam and the 1973 coup against Salvador Allende in Chile.

Chavez had reaped the ire of the Bush administration when, during a speech condemning the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he questioned whether bombing Afghanistan in retaliation was a good idea. Chavez called it “fighting terrorism with terrorism”—not a savvy choice of words, but in retrospect, spot on. The invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent Iraq War have visited widespread terror on the populations of both countries and proved utterly disastrous for the United States.  Upwards of a million Iraqis died as a direct and indirect effect of the war, and 5 million were turned into refugees. And the bloodshed is far from over. Much the same—albeit on a smaller scale—is happening to the Afghans.

Would that we had paid Chavez some attention. 

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Chavez: Washington Nemesis, 

Latin American Hero

By Laura Carlsen, March 12, 2013

Foreign Policy in Focus

You could almost hear the sigh of relief coming out of Washington at the news of Hugo Chavez’s death on March 5.

President Obama issued a brief statement that failed even to offer condolences, forcing a senior State Department official to patch over the evident callousness and breach of diplomacy by offering his personal condolences the following day. 

Within moments of Chavez’s death, commercial media and mouthpieces for the U.S. government were verbally dancing on his grave and predicting the imminent demise of Chavismo—Chavez’s political legacy in Venezuela and abroad.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE 

This isn't self-determination. It's a Ruritanian colonial relic

The Guardian Seumas Milne The vote for British rule in the Falklands referendum dodges the point. It's time for a negotiated settlement with Argentina. by thetiredprop.worldpress.com  by kids.britannica.com Whenever there's a 99.8% yes vote in a referendum, it's a pretty safe bet that something dodgy's going on. And despite David Cameron's insistence that the North Korean-style ballot in the Falkland Islands - or Malvinas as they're known in Argentina - should be treated with "reverence", that rule of thumb clearly fits the bill in this case. Which is not to suggest that the ballot boxes were stuffed. No doubt 1,514 island residents really did vote in favour of continued British rule. The only surprise was that three islanders dared to spoil the rousing choruses of Land of Hope and Glory by voting against. It's that the poll was a foregone conclusion and designed to miss the entire point of Britain's dispute with Argentina over the islands - which began 180 years ago when one of Lord Palmerston's gunboats seized them and expelled the Argentine administration. What other result could conceivably be expected if the future of the islands is put in the hands of the tiny British settler population, most of whom weren't born there but are subsidised to the tune of £44,856 a head to keep them in the Rhodesian retro style to which they are accustomed? By giving the colonists a veto on any change in the islands' status, the British government is trying to pre-empt the issue at the heart of the conflict. But it won't be recognised by Argentina or Latin America, or Africa, or the UN - which regards this relic of empire as a problem of decolonisation - or the US, which is neutral on the dispute. All call for negotiations on sovereignty, which Britain rejects. But surely the islanders have the right to self-determination, it's argued, even if they're 300 miles from Argentina and the other side of the world from Britain. They certainly have a right to have their interests and way of life protected, and to self-government. by coha.org But the right of self-determination depends on who is deciding the future of what territory - and since the dispute is about whether the islands are part of Argentina or not, it's also about who should exercise that right. Self-determination requires a recognised and viably independent people, which is why the UN has rejected its application to the islands. Clearly the residents of, say, the Wallops in Hampshire, with a similar-sized population to the Falklands-Malvinas, can't exercise such a right. Nor can forced colonisation of other people's lands legitimate self-determination - otherwise Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank would have the right to decide the future of Palestinian territory. In fact, British governments only developed a taste for self-determination after they had been forced to abandon the bulk of their empire and saw a way to hold on to colonised enclaves of dependent populations in places like Gibraltar and Northern Ireland. But it's always been a pick and mix affair: there were no self-determination ballots for the people of Hong Kong or the Chagos Islands, expelled by Britain four decades ago to make way for an American air base in Diego Garcia. There are different rules, it seems, for white people. Even so, successive British administrations were quite prepared to negotiate with Argentina over the Falklands-Malvinas - including the islands' sovereignty - from the mid-1960s until 1982. But since the Falklands war, its legacy has entrenched an unsustainable £75m-a-year Ruritanian absurdity in the south Atlantic. The junta's defeat helped free Argentina from a vicious western-backed dictatorship. But military success was a disaster for Britain, rescuing Margaret Thatcher from the depths of unpopularity to unleash devastating neoliberal shock therapy, and rehabilitating overseas military adventures (complete with little-reported war crimes, such as the killing of Argentinian prisoners). The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges famously dismissed the war as a "fight between two bald men over a comb". A generation on, the discovery of potentially large oil and gas deposits around the islands, development of fisheries and growing importance of the Antarctic sea lanes have changed the picture. Received political wisdom has long been that after the 1982 war, in which more than 900 people were killed, no British politician could afford even to hint at compromise on the Falklands. But Argentina's hand is stronger than might appear. To exploit the islands' hydrocarbon deposits on a significant scale would depend on access to the Argentinian mainland - as would serious development of the islands' economy. Britain's refusal to negotiate with a democratic Argentina - when it was happy to talk to the country's dictators - has no significant international support: least of all in Latin America, which has been booming for a decade, while Britain's and Europe's economies are on their backs. The options for compromise have been canvassed for many years, including joint sovereignty, co-administration and leaseback. A negotiated settlement is in the interests of Britain, Argentina - and the islanders. The sooner time is called on the emperor's new clothes saga of the Falklands, the better for all of us.

Thousands join anti-nuclear rally in French Polynesia

Radio New Zealand International

An estimated 3,000 people have joined an anti-nuclear rally in the French Polynesian capital, Papeete, organised by the ruling pro-independence party.

This followed two marches from the east and west of the city, which met up outside the territorial assembly.

The crew of Japan’s Peace Boat, named after the NGO by the same name, also joined the event, which according to correspondents had fewer participants than expected.

France carried out more than 180 nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific, the last one in 1996.

The assembly’s president, Jacqui Drollet, says although the tests are over, nuclear waste has been left behind which will be there for thousands of years to come.

In 2010, France acknowledged for the first time that its tests weren’t clean.

It passed a compensation law for test victims, but to date practically all claims have been rejected.

New Caledonia seeks to control its nickel resources

                                                       Selling nickel to Asia

Islands Business

by Nic Maclellan

Nickel transporter...in New Caledonia. -- Nic Maclellan

New Caledonia’s nickel industry is being transformed as new joint ventures and exports to Asia challenge France’s control of the strategic minerals sector.

New Caledonia holds more than 25 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, as well as other strategic metals. The mining, processing and export of these ores are central to New Caledonia’s political as well as economic future, as the country moves to a new political status after 2014.

The FLNKS independence movement sees the control of the islands’ major industry as a key part of their struggle.

Read full article here.

Nic Maclellan writes that "Politics heats up in New Caledonia"

Independence supporters and opponents gear up 

for next year’s elections

By Nic Maclellan

Islands Business

New Caledonia’s next Congressional elections will not be held until May 2014, but it seems like the electoral campaign has already begun.

In recent months, politics in the French Pacific colony has been hotting up as supporters and opponents of independence prepare for next year’s electoral contest. 

Since the Noumea Accord was signed in May 1998, there has been a gradual transfer of authority from Paris to Noumea. But the Congress elected in 2014 will have a major decision. By 3/5 majority, the Congress can decide whether to proceed to a referendum on the transfer of the remaining sovereign powers (defence, foreign policy, police, courts and currency).

A vote after 2014 to transfer these powers would mean the creation of an independent and sovereign nation.

Young voters learn Kanak history...charismatic Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou who was assassinated in 1989. -- Nic Maclellan

Read full article here.

CARICOM SG: Chavez a true friend of Caribbean Community

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque has described the late President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez as a “true friend” of the Community. In a message of condolence to the Government of Venezuela, the Secretary-General said that the late President Chavez, who died on Tuesday following a battle with cancer, “demonstrated solidarity with the Governments and People of the Caribbean Community throughout his tenure and created avenues for co-operation and strengthening relations with the Governments and improving the lives of the people.” President Chavez with Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller photo by Jamaica Gleaner Following is the full text of the Secretary-General’s message: “It is with deep sadness that the Caribbean Community has learnt of the passing of a true friend, His Excellency Hugo Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. President Chavez demonstrated solidarity with the Governments and People of the Caribbean Community throughout his tenure and created avenues for co-operation and strengthening relations with the Governments and improving the lives of the people. His vision of bringing together the people of Latin America and the Caribbean was driven by his deep sense of concern for the well-being of the disadvantaged in society, not only in his own country but in the wider region. His struggle with the disease that finally claimed his life epitomised the heart and spirit which he brought to bear in his attempts to raise the standard of living of the less fortunate in his homeland, in the Caribbean and the wider region. I extend, on my own behalf and on that of the Caribbean Community, deepest condolences to the family of President Chavez and to the Government and People of Venezuela. I am confident that the strength and spirit of the Venezuelan people, so strikingly exemplified by President Chavez, will sustain the country in its time of grief. May he rest in peace.”

CARICOM to engage British on Turks & Caicos Islands colonialism

NO: 35/2013                                                                       DATE:  20^th  February 2013

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE

TWENTY-FOURTH INTER-SESSIONAL MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM),

18-19 FEBRUARY 2013,

PORT-AU-PRINCE, REPUBLIC OF HAITI

.....

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Twenty-Fourth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Port-au-Prince, Republic of Haiti, from 18-19 February 2013.  His Excellency, Michel Joseph Martelly, President of the Republic of Haiti, presided.

Other Members of the Conference in attendance were:  the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Honourable Winston Baldwin Spencer; the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie; the President of the Republic of Guyana, His Excellency Donald Ramotar; the Premier of Montserrat, Honourable Reuben Meade; the Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas; the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr. the Hon. Kenny D. Anthony; the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves; and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Dominica was represented by Honourable Colin McIntrye, Minister of Employment, Trade, Industry and Diaspora Affairs; Jamaica was represented by Honourable Arnold J. Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Suriname was represented by Honourable Gin-Mardo Kromosoeto, Minister of Regional Development, Land and Forestry Management; Barbados was represented by Mr. Charles Burnett, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Belize was represented by Ambassador Alexis Rosado, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Associate Member in attendance was the Premier, Turks and Caicos Islands, Honourable Dr. Rufus Ewing.

Special Guest in attendance was the Attorney-General of the United States of America, Honourable Eric Holder Jr. 

__________________________________

Honourable Dr. Rufus Ewing

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

The Conference received with interest the address made by the Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands.  It was the first meeting of the Community at which the Turks and Caicos Islands had been officially represented by a democratically elected Government since the suspension of its constitution in August 2009, and a three-year period of direct rule by the United Kingdom Government.

The Conference noted with grave concern that, though the elections of November 2012 had led to the restoration of representative government, the overall state of political affairs remained less than desirable and the restoration of true democracy was still a far way off.  The 2011 constitution, conceived in London and thrust upon the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands when they were without representation, was viewed as a mere by-law for the continuance of direct rule under the pretext of representative democracy.

Of additional concern were the challenges emanating from the workings of the justice system in relation to the criminal investigations that followed the commission of enquiry, and what was portrayed as "constant infractions of democratic principles and insults to the ideals of elected government".

The Conference noted the reaffirmation of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government's commitment to the Caribbean Community as well as the expressed appreciation for the pronouncements of the Community on the situation in TCI.  It was decided to continue to keep the situation under close review and to raise concerns with representatives of the British Government.

‘The State (France) failed to prepare St. Martin for new status’

Daily Herald

MARIGOT--Senator Louis-Constant Fleming plans to take France's Minister of Overseas Territories Victorin Lurel to task over the State's failure to properly establish the Collectivité of St. Martin, whereas it has fulfilled its obligations towards New Caledonia and Mayotte and is about do so again for Martinique and French Guiana, two territories that will become Collectivités in 2015.

On February 13, the Minister submitted to the Council of Ministers two ordinances, organizing and preparing the institutional change of Martinique and French Guiana that will become Collectivités in 2015.

One ordinance determines budgetary rules, financial and accounting that will be applicable to both Collectivités, and the other deals with the transfer of civil servants of the department and the region to each new Collectivité without changing their status, and also the transfer of assets and liabilities of the department and region to each new Collectivité.

According to the terms of the Daily Bulletin of Thursday, February 14, "these orders give the new Collectivités human and material resources, as well as budgetary tools and financial matters necessary for their proper functioning."

"We can rejoice for Martinique and French Guiana to have the preparation of their new Collectivité status in place and taken care of, since this high skills transfer cannot take place without the prior transfer of financial means and human resources," commented Fleming.

"Provision is also required for the time needed to make the transition, by knowledgeable staff assisting in the implementation of the new administration.

"But we cannot help thinking that St. Martin has been paying the price of a municipality's total unpreparedness and a total non-interest of the State, even though the procedures were done previously with Mayotte and New-Caledonia.

"In the case of St. Martin, it was to move from a municipal administration to a real territorial administration with municipal, departmental, regional and some state responsibilities. It is obvious that such a transition should have been prepared, and a single municipal administration is by definition very limited. The State should have provided the new Collectivité employees the necessary tools and time for a serious and successful launch under the new status."

Fleming emphasises the State has not fulfilled its obligations towards St. Martin, but met them towards New Caledonia and Mayotte in their institutional transitions and is about to respect them for Martinique and French Guiana.

"Yet France had enough time to implement the changes for St Martin, given the time that elapsed between the referendum of December 2003 and the Organic Law of February 21, 2007, establishing the new Collectivité," he argued. "It seems to me therefore necessary and appropriate to question the Minister of Overseas, previously Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Martin until June 2012, and to remind him of the State's failure to establish the Collectivité of St. Martin.

"It is also his moral obligation to repair the damages done. The best thing the State could do to start repairing the damages done is to obtain the annulment of the decree of April 22, 2011, fixing an overall budget of negative compensation of 634,126 euros. The Collectivité has made a request to the Council of State on July 2011 for cancellation and has, to this date, not received an answer."