28 March 2024
On Saturday 23 March 2024, HE Governor Nigel Phillips, Chief Minister Julie Thomas and Chief Secretary Susan O’Bey returned to St Helena following an official visit to fellow Overseas Territory, Montserrat.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office facilitated the trip to promote ties between the two Overseas Territories. During their visit, the delegation met with HE Governor Sarah Tucker, Premier Easton Taylor-Farrell, members of Parliament and a wide range of officials and community representatives. These meetings enabled the two Overseas Territories to learn about the challenges and opportunities each island is facing, share approaches on how to address them and to better understand where collaboration between St Helena and Montserrat would be best implemented.
The delegation also attended a variety of events aimed at strengthening the social and cultural links between the two territories. These festivities included the annual flower show and tea party hosted by the Montserrat National Trust, and a tour of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. A visit to the Plymouth Exclusion Zone was cancelled due to bad weather. On Sunday 17 March, the delegation attended the annual St Patrick’s Day Parade, the culminating event of a 15-day festival, Montserrat’s biggest national festival.
The delegation also took the opportunity to meet with the High Commissioner to Antigua Karen-Mae Hill OBE, en route back to St Helena.
Reflecting on their trip to Montserrat, Chief Minister Julie Thomas commented:
“Concluding a highly successful week in Montserrat, I am pleased to have been able to engage in so many detailed and enlightening discussions and make so many valuable connections with the Montserratian Parliamentary leaders along with their civil service counterparts. These will be critical in further strengthening our ties with the people and government of Montserrat.”
“Discussions on topics of governance, policy and corporate leadership, fiscal policy, outcome framework and programme management of the Montserrat Capital Investment Programme for Resilient Economic Growth (similar to St Helena’s EDIP) will help our Executive Council with future decision-making approaches and best practices. Equally, I know that our counterparts in Montserrat found great value in hearing about the enormous strides that St Helena has made in our blue and green agendas, development in terms of access and the steps we are taking to strengthen our essential infrastructure; areas of which are similar in priority for both islands.”
Photos
#StHelena #Montserrat #OverseasTerritories