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Falkland Focus
News from the Falkland Islands Government
Number: 71 - April/May 2001

STANLEY HARBOUR

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The Islands Plan – A Confident Future For The Falklands

British Parliamentary Visits - Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers; MPs Visit

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Focus on... Public Works Department - The Islands Highways; Capital Projects; The Environment; Departmental Objectives

Falkland Islands Focus on Quality; New Abattoir on Schedule; Going Organic; Diversification Continues as Reindeer Arrive

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UK Representative to Chair UKOTA

News In Brief: General Election on 22 November 2001; New Census; UK Media Visits to the Falklands; Conservation on the Curriculum; Destinations 2001; New Visitors Guide to the Falkland Islands; Tristar Flight Schedule Changes; Falkland Islands Internet Portal - Live in April

The Islands Plan – A Confident Future For The Falklands

A radical, three year plan to achieve sustainable development, safeguard the natural environment and reverse the population decline in Camp - the Islands’ term for the countryside - has been published by the Falkland Islands Government.

Finalised in March, ‘The Islands Plan’ was launched in February at a meeting in Stanley where it was put out to the public for consultation.

Fundamental to the development plan - the first comprehensive blueprint since Lord Shackleton’s report in the early 1980s - is the need for agricultural diversification from a reliance on wool-based industry to meat production for export and a commitment to constructing a deep-water port. New deep water port facilities will enable the successful fishing industry to develop onshore and encourage the development of related industries such as freezer plants, mussel farms, oyster beds and fish processing.

In addition it will help develop cruise ship tourism. There were over 30,000 cruise ship visitors to the Islands last season alone. The conversion of some of these tourists into future longer stay visitors is a further objective of the Plan, through the encouragement of initiatives such as fishing and agri-tourism.

Although the Plan is not reliant on the discovery and exploitation of oil, offshore mineral exploration will be encouraged through the introduction of an Open Door licensing policy. Offshore development, with little onshore impact, will continue to be the aim with strict conservation safeguards enforced to protect wildlife and the environment. Indeed, throughout the document there are strong policies to prize and to protect the unique environment of the Islands.

Finally, the Plan seeks to improve the quality of life of Falkland Island people and communities, by investment in housing, education and health services.

Reactions to the Plan have been largely positive, reflecting the population’s support of the Government’s determination to provide the Islands with a strong and sustainable economic future.

Councillor Mike Summers OBE described the Islands Plan as a "document to give structure and direction to our future. It is not about maintaining the status quo: it’s about change. The future economic prosperity of the Islands depends on diversification and sustainable development."

British Parliamentary Visits

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers

In February, the Islands received a visit from John Battle MP, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with responsibility for Latin America. Mr Battle held meetings in Stanley with Councillors and representatives of Government Departments as well as visiting settlements in Camp. He praised the Islands' economic success, self-sufficient status and its promising future saying that he was "surprised" that so many young people chose to return to the Islands after studying abroad. "It's a young country," said Mr Battle, "with young people with bright, new ideas about the future".

Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC, the FCO Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for the UK’s Overseas Territories, visited the Islands at the end of January as part of a visit to British Antarctic Survey bases. She is the first British Minister to visit British Antarctic Territory. During her stay, the Baroness visited residents in Camp, met the Heads of Departments and Councillors and talked with pupils at the Community School in Stanley. Talking about her trip the Baroness said she felt lucky to have had "the real advantage" of seeing the Islands first hand.

Baroness Scotland opening the Reclus Hut at the Museum in Stanley with John Smith, the Museum Curator (left), and H.E. the Governor Donald Lamont. The Hut, originally built in Stanley, was erected on the Reclus Peninsula in 1956 as a staging post for the first East-West crossing of the Antarctic Peninsula.

MPs Visit

In November four MPs, David Watts and Stephen Hepburn from the Labour Party, and Cheryl Gillan and Ian Bruce from the Conservative Party, visited the Islands on a familiarisation trip sponsored by the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). Clearly impressed after their week-long visit, Cheryl Gillan spoke on behalf of the group saying, "there is a new found confidence which permeates through everybody’s presentation and everything we’ve been shown."