24 December 2004
Tony Blair has sent his best wishes to everyone living and working on the Falkland Islands for the New Year.
Read the Prime Minister’s message:
I’m delighted to have this chance again to talk to you and to send my best wishes to everyone living and working on the Islands for the New Year.
This has been another busy and challenging year for the Falklands.
Your community faced some tough financial decisions following the disappointing Squid fishery this year. But the flagging of new vessels on the Falklands register demonstrates that there is still plenty of confidence in the future of your fishing industry.
At the same time, your efforts to continue diversifying your economy are deservedly reaping rewards. Your agricultural sector gets stronger while oil exploration projects also hold out the prospect of positive benefits for the economy.
It was also a year in which your far-sightedness in protecting your wonderful natural environment has paid dividends.
These natural wonders are, of course, a major factor in the success of tourism on the Islands. And the important work done by your government and Falkland Conservation to protect the future of marine wildlife, including such threatened species as the albatross, has highlighted global concern over this key environmental issue.
I hope your tourism industry will also benefit from your successful hosting of the regional meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly in February.
This not only demonstrated the importance you place here on parliamentary democracy but also enabled representatives of many countries to enjoy your generous hospitality and see for themselves the unique charm of these Islands.
This meeting was just one of the ways in which the Islands continued to reach out to the wider world. You must be very proud of the personal bests recorded by Edward Freer, Dion Robertson and Hannah Arthur-Almond in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo.
The completion this year of the memorial to the Argentine war dead at Darwin is another sign of the Islands’ confidence in the future and a welcome symbol of reconciliation.
We will continue to discuss with Argentina issues of mutual concern and benefit to your community, building on recent meetings over shared fish stocks, the continental shelf and de-mining.
But let me assure you that there is no lessening in our commitment to your security, sovereignty or right to self-determination. We have no doubts about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime areas.
And this position will not change, unless you, the Islanders, decide otherwise.
Let me finish as I began by sending my warmest wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the New Year.
delicious
digg
facebook
