For those of you interested in island life and the workings of Montserrat as an overseas territory, we had the initiation of our new Governor, British Economist Mr Adrian Davis, this month.
His Excellency the Governor, is the representative of Her Majesty The Queen and is the Constitutional Head of State in Montserrat. The Constitution gives the Governor certain responsibilities which include oversight for external affairs, defence, internal security, the administration of the Courts, the financial services sector, elections and disaster management. The key area for the Governor’s Office is to work with the Government of Montserrat to agree an investment package and associated commitments which could enable Montserrat to grow sustainably and ultimate to reduce financial dependency on the United Kingdom in the longer term.
As part of his initiation, the Governor made his rounds of introduction across all the different ministries that make up the Government of Montserrat, including ours, the Ministry of Agriculture. During his visit to the offices of the Department of Environment the Governor was very interested in the Mountain Chicken Project, particularly as it is funded by the Darwin Initiative funding body set up by the British Government.
As an economist by training we are hoping that the Governor will bring many positive changes to Montserrat during his time here over the next four years.
– Sarah-Louise Smith (Project Coordinator)