Councillors Eric Benjamin, Chair of the Education Committee and William Drabble, Chair of the Public Health and Social Services Committee will attend the Gibraltar conference on St Helena’s behalf.

While the Territories are a UK-wide responsibility, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ("the Department") is the lead Department for coordinating UK Government policy for the Territories. The Department for International Development (DFID) coordinates development assistance, focusing on the three Territories of Montserrat, St. Helena and Pitcairn.

The present Constitution of St Helena dates from 1988. It is in many respects outdated or inadequate. The United Kingdom Government firmly supports the enhancement of good government and fundamental rights protection in St Helena in the coming years, which will be of great importance to the development of the island. The United Kingdom Government is therefore considering with elected St Helena Councillors replacing the 1988 Constitution with a modernised Constitution. The objective is to arrive at a new Constitution that will better serve St Helena and that is acceptable both to St Helena and the United Kingdom. The process will of course involve public consultation.

This was my tenth EXCO meeting and was by far the longest, lasting from 9.30am until 2 pm. The reason for that was the substantial nature of much of the business. Councillor Reid deputised for Councillor Drabble who is representing us abroad. There were no members of the public present and so the open part and the closed part of the meeting consisted of only the members and officials.

The first paper covered an interesting and controversial topic. It was designed to begin discussion on the possibility of some kind of Price Commission. Councillors always find discussion of the cost of fuel, electricity, the RMS, Cable & Wireless and such like, very difficult. On the one hand nobody wishes to approve any increase in cost of goods and services to the electorate, on the other hand there is a responsibility to balance the budget and provide a thriving economy where the vulnerable can receive protection and care. I have witnessed this dilemma a number of times over the past few months, and it seems that some kind of independent body, that makes clear recommendations, or even decisions, on some of these issues, could be a sensible way forward. Garth Armstrong, who was advising us on our economy recently, prepared a very useful paper on the topic of Fuel Pricing and the possibility of setting up this kind of Authority.

Business continues in Southern Africa and beyond with the appointment of Commercial Representative, Adam Kossowski on a one-year contract. Adam will continue to manage various ongoing investment interests and business enquiries for St Helena and looks forward to the year ahead.

He said: “I am honoured that the St Helena Government and St Helena Development Agency continue to entrust this representative role to me, and feel that at this time the opportunity to attract sustainable investment on St Helena will be very much in line with the finalisation of the air access process. Something I look forward to being part of in realising the investment potential this will bring to the island.”

The St Helena Government and the St Helena Development Agency recently awarded the contract and Adam will continue to focus on his main responsibilities with promoting St Helena as a tourism and investment destination while also providing information and related support to heads of departments in their various capacities, where needed.