The Honourable Chief Minister Mr Victor F Banks and his team returned to Anguilla on Monday October 30th from attending a special meeting of the Heads of the Caribbean British Overseas Territories, in Miami on Saturday October 28th 2017. The meeting was held ahead of the Annual Joint Ministerial Conference (JMC) scheduled to be held in London on the 27th to 30th November 2017.
The meeting ended with two major outcomes,
1. The Heads calling for a change in the JMC agenda to allow total participation of all the British Overseas Territories in the discussion on disaster response, recovery, resilience building and mitigation in respect of the unprecedented 2017 hurricane season. The request for the change was made in a letter to The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Overseas Territories. The Proposed agenda had called for separate meetings with the affected territories of Anguilla, British Virgin Island and the Turks and Caicos islands and with the exclusion of all other Overseas Territories from the discussions.
2. The Heads writing to Prime Minister Theresa May Requesting a meeting with her to discuss the position of the British Overseas Territories in the light of these circumstances with a view to proceeding with the requisite recovery, reconstruction and resilience building of the territories affected by this catastrophe in a mutually beneficial manner.
While in Miami, Chief Minister Banks was also involved in a series of other meetings. On Friday 27th October the Chief Minister and the delegation met with Gencom Ltd, and discussed tourism related projects. Following the special meeting the Chief Minister and his local team met with the Mr Godwin Carty, President of the Florida Chapter of APANY; Dr Leonard Richardson, President of the Baltimore Chapter of APANY; Mrs. Maxine Herbert Duggins, Proprietor of Best Buy Supermarkets and the main Coordinator of the Hurricane Relief Effort in the USA and Mrs. Blondel Cluff, Anguilla UK/EU Representative to discuss their respective relief efforts. On Sunday October 29th a Town Hall meeting was held with the Anguilla Diaspora in Florida at which the Chief Minister Banks updated the community on the progress to recovery, reconstruction and resilience building. The attendees were all appreciative for the opportunity to meet and chat with the Chief Minister. The meeting ended with the presentation of a birthday cake and gift to the Chief Minister. The cake was presented by Monique Niles and the gift by Violet Vanterpool. In response, an emotional Banks thanked APANY and the gathering for the gifts and the out pouring of love.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
