Talks with UK officials in Anguilla end today

Saturday, January 31, 2004

THE VALLEY, Anguilla: A team of technical officials from the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID) ended two days of discussions in Anguilla today.

The talks were held to identify programmes and therefore funding priorities for the final financial year of DfID aid to Anguilla, and to agree on a transition plan for phasing out bilateral aid by March 2005.

There is approximately US$3.5 million - approximately EC$8 million - remaining from the total UK DfID aid allocation to Anguilla for the period April 2000 to March 2005.

The talks were also to explore the possibilities for funding in future years from other British government sources and to agree on practical steps to be undertaken so as to ensure that a sustainable outcome to the work currently carried out retained by the Anguillan authorities.

Prior to the decision to close the programme, a number of possible future initiatives were recorded under the DfID 'pipeline' for Anguilla including the Support for a Strategic Planning Exercise, Support to the Department of Social Development, Water Sector Consultancies, Health Sector Support Programme, Inland Revenue Project, and Support for Mental Health. 

In relation to the new proposals, a specific objective is to ascertain the Government of Anguilla's view on priorities among the identified programmes and agree whether and with which modality any short-term inputs such as consultancies or/and training can sensibly be provided prior to March 2005. 

The team was headed by Clive Warren, Head of OTD, DFID and Sarah Booker, Deputy Head - Bilateral, OTD, FCO. The rest of the team included Petra Byrde, Head of the Caribbean/Bermuda Section, OTD, FCO; Greg Hicks, Programme Manager, OTD, and DFID; and Caterina Alari, Governance Adviser, OTD, and DFID.

The team was in the Turks and Caicos Islands for similar discussions earlier in the week.

An FCO/DfID joint report outlining the main outputs of the visit will be prepared within 3 weeks of return and shared with the governments of the Territories. 

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