The UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Miguel Angel Moratinos and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana held the second Ministerial meeting of the Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar in London on Wednesday.
Since the last Ministerial meeting held in Cordoba, Spain on 18th September 2006, there have been three rounds of discussions in the Forum.
These meetings have reviewed implementation of the arrangements agreed in Cordoba,
and have also considered and developed working papers for the future agenda
of the Forum.
The trio reviewed progress with regard to the implementation of the Cordoba Statements.
On pensions, they welcomed the United Kingdom’s payment of the second tranche of the lump sum to Affected Spanish Pensioners in April 2008, thereby meeting the UK’s obligations under the Ministerial Statement on Pensions.
Looking ahead, the trio announced that they wanted to further create a constructive atmosphere of mutual confidence and cooperation for the benefit and prosperity of Gibraltar and the whole region, in particular the Campo de Gibraltar, and to ensure that cooperation and mutual trust become the norm.
To this end, they endorsed the broad objectives of the future agenda, which will encompass co-operation on the environment, financial services and taxation, judicial, customs and police co-operation, education, maritime communications and visa-related issues with a view to reaching agreements, where possible, at future Ministerial meetings of the Forum.
The politicians also re-affirmed that, as was the case with the Cordoba Statements, any agreements in these areas would have no implications whatsoever regarding sovereignty and jurisdiction.
In addition, any such agreements would have to
be compatible with any EU instruments’ and international conventions’
obligations that are binding on the participants.
On the sunject of maritime communications, the trio agreed to
facilitate the establishment of commercial maritime links between the Port
of Gibraltar and Ports in Spain, especially in the Bay, should there be commercial
interest in establishing such links.
In this context, they
expressed determination to enhance comprehensive co-operation between their Ports, and
reaffirmed that comprehensive co-operation on maritime safety and environment
issues constitutes an important part of the agreed future agenda of the Forum.
The trio then turned their attention to the topics of financial services and
taxation, announcing that they recognise the value to all international financial
services, carried out in a well regulated context, and which are compliant effectively
with all applicable EU and other international measures relating to money laundering, terrorist and other serious crime financing.
To this end, they are determined that there will be the normal degree of co-operation,
including arrangements,
mechanisms and regular contacts at all levels, in relation to financial services
policy, regulation and supervision, taxation, exchange of information and anti-
money laundering issues.
The Forum, since its meeting in Gibraltar in March 2007, has been developing
working papers setting out detailed objectives in relation to these new agenda
issues.
Accordingly, the politicians have agreed that the Forum will meet in September to finalise the specific objectives for each of these areas, and the methodologies for achieving them.
The Forum will meet at Ministerial level to reach agreements within the next twelve months.
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