Turks and Caicos Islands
GOVERNMENT

LONDON, England;  Thursday, October 30, 2008 - Gillian Merron, Overseas Territories Minister, hosted the tenth meeting of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) on 28 and 29 October 2008 at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in London. Premiers, Chief Ministers, Councillors and other representatives from Britain's Overseas Territories attended. The Council is held annually in London and provides a forum for consultation with British Government Ministers.


Gillian Merron said: "This was my first Overseas Territories Consultative Council and the first occasion I have had to meet the leaders of the Territories. We have covered a lot of ground over the past two days ranging from financial services and economic issues to human rights. Our discussions have been open and frank and have given me an invaluable insight into the issues of concern that we share with the Overseas Territories. 

The Overseas Territories are important to Britain. We greatly value our partnership with them and want to work together towards their future security and prosperity. I have been very interested to hear the views of the Overseas Territories leaders on issues that matter to them and their people and have been struck by the unique nature and varying needs of each of the Territories. 

I was delighted to be joined by my ministerial colleagues Michael Foster, Stephen Timms and Huw Irranca-Davies who spoke about good governance, financial regulation, combating international corruption and environmental protection. I was pleased to join Ralph T O'Neal, the Premier of the British Virgin Islands, in signing a Tax Information Exchange Agreement between the UK and the British Virgin Islands. This is a good example of the partnership and co-operation that exists between the UK and the Overseas Territories."

The UK and the Overseas Territories represented at the Consultative Council agreed the following:

• Recommitment to the principles of good governance agreed in 2006.
• The Overseas Territories Consultative Council in 2009 should include a forum to discuss the 1999 White Paper ten years on. The Forum would include key stakeholders, would examine progress and what remained to be done, and would agree how to take forward the White Paper agenda.
• The UK would, where appropriate, support the Territories to meet their international obligations.
• Target dates of October 2009 for extension to all the populated Territories of ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. To consider the options available to meet international obligations on sexual orientation.
• The importance of maintaining effective regulatory and law enforcement systems in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and to tackle corruption and bribery in line with international standards. In this regard, to work together to deliver the Financial Services Strategy and to implement agreed Action Plans.
• The importance of engagement with international initiatives in the area of transparency and the need for early progress on the signature of Tax Information Exchange Agreements with the UK and other OECD states.
• The UK would assist the Territories to keep informed of progress on EU and other international agreements relating to financial services.
• To maintain and improve close dialogue between the Territories and the UK on the relationship with the EU. To co-ordinate an approach to the EU/OCT Forum meeting in the Cayman Islands in November 2008.
• To work together to address the potential impact of climate change in the Overseas Territories and to promote sustainable environmental policies in the Territories with additional support from the Department for the Environment,  Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
• That regional initiatives and co-operation between the Territories in areas such as disaster management, the environment and criminal justice should be encouraged and supported.