Ministers meetings with Middle Eastern dignitaries (FOI)

Request

Could you please provide a list of names of any government ministers or presidents met by the Chief Minister Ian Gorst, Senator Philip Ozouf, Senator Philip Bailhache and Senator Alan Maclean during visits to the following countries over the last ten years:

• Saudi Arabia

• Bahrain

• Qatar

• Israel

• Oman

N.B In order to avoid a potential return of exceeding the maximum amount of hours allowed for this FOI, please contact me if necessary in order to narrow the scope. However, I assume diaries are kept and maintained of who our Ministers are meeting in their official capacity as representatives of Jersey when visiting government officials abroad and so should be relatively easy to provide.

Response

The information supplied has been obtained from a number of sources held by the Public Authority and is as complete a response as we can give. The information supplied covers meetings attended by Ministers in an official capacity.

Saudi Arabia

In 2014 Senator Philip Ozouf met Finance Minister, His Excellency Dr Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.

Bahrain

The information is not held.

Qatar

In 2012 Senator Sir Philip Bailhache met:

• Minister, Ministry of Economy and Finance, His Excellency Yousef Hussain Kamal.

• Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy and Finance His Excellency Khalaf Ahmed Almanai.

In 2013 Senator Philip Ozouf met Minister of Finance, His Excellency Ali Shareef Al-Emadi.

In 2014 Senator Philip Ozouf met:

• Minister of Finance, His Excellency Ali Shareef Al-Emadi.

• Minister of Economy and Commerce, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani.

Israel

This information is already available online in response to a previous Freedom of Information request at the link below and is therefore absolutely exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Ministers visits to and meetings with representatives of the Israeli Government (FOI)

Oman

The information is not held.

Exemptions applied

Article 23 – Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.