French politicians to visit Channel Islands

13 September 2016

The President of the Normandy Region, Hervé Morin, and the President of La Manche, Philippe Bas, will make an official visit to the Channel Islands on 15 and 16 September 2016.

On 15 September, they will spend the day in Guernsey, where they will meet with the Bailiff, the Chief Minister and members of the business community. The following day, the delegation (including representatives of the States of Guernsey) will visit Jersey to attend an annual summit. The summit will explore opportunities for partnership between the four jurisdictions (Jersey, Guernsey, La Manche and the Normandy Region), as agreed in the cooperation agreement that was signed in Normandy last year.

The delegation will be welcomed to Jersey by the Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, and they will also be joined by the Prefect of La Manche, Mr. Jacques Witkowski, who will represent the French State at the summit. Representatives of the States of Alderney and the Chief Pleas of Sark, both associate members of the agreement, will also attend.

Since the inaugural summit in Mont Saint Michel last year, there have been elections in La Manche, Normandy and Guernsey. This year’s summit will therefore serve as a formal welcome to the President of Normandy, Hervé Morin, the President of La Manche, Philippe Bas, and Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Deputy Gavin St Pier.

An action plan will also be presented, proposing joint projects in higher education, academic exchanges, culture, environment (including marine renewable energy), tourism and other areas of the economy.

A signing ceremony to renew the cooperation agreement between the four parties and extend it to a larger scale in Normandy will conclude the meeting.

The session will be open to the media from 2pm to 4pm on 16 September at the Radisson Hotel (Le Hocq Room).

This will be followed by a presentation to local politicians of hydrogen-powered bicycles from La Manche on the Elizabeth Marina esplanade. La Manche is the leading French producer of carbon-free vehicles. The aim of the presentation will be to promote the installation of hydrogen-powered bicycle stations in the Channel Islands.