Gibraltar, Spain And The UK Conclude Second Round Of Tripartite Talks

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

14 July 2005

The governments of the United Kingdom, Spain and Gibraltar have concluded the second round of trilateral talks which focused primarily on issues concerning the airport, the frontier, pensions and telecommunications.

A joint press statement issued by the three governments characterised the latest round of talks, which concluded on July 9 in Faro, as "constructive and fruitful" and conducted in an "amicable atmosphere", despite the difficult and complex nature of the issues at hand.

In addition to discussions on the airport, the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain, pensions and telecommunications, the forum also explored matters relating to co-operation on cross-border environmental issues, cultural and sporting matters, and police and judicial co-operation.

"In relation to a possible agreement relating to the use of the Gibraltar Airport the participants continued to explore the possibilities for agreements on terms acceptable to all of them. Progress has been made. The participants are committed to work intensively in order to reach an agreement as soon as possible," the joint statement explained, continuing that:

"The issue of the pensions of the former Spanish workers in Gibraltar has been thoroughly discussed by the participants. All of them agree that this is an important and sensitive issue particularly taking into account the age of those affected. Therefore, and in the light of further detailed information made available by all three participants, they have reviewed the work to date of the Technical Working Group and they agreed to hold a further meeting of this Group to establish and assess the facts in September. The meeting also took note of the EU Commission´s letter to the British Government on this issue."

"The participants discussed the plans, recently announced by the Spanish Government, to improve the flow of people and vehicular traffic across the fence/frontier and the customs and immigration control."

"The forum also reviewed the work of the Technical Working Group on Telecommunications which had met several times since the Malaga meeting. The aim is to find a way acceptable to all sides, to increase the number of Gibraltar telephone numbers accessible from the Spanish network and to facilitate mobile roaming. The Forum was pleased to note that the Technical Working Group was making good progress in identifying possible solutions."

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