Gibraltar’s representation at the Labour Party Conference continued yesterday evening with the Gibraltar Reception hosted by the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and featuring a keynote speech by the UK Minister for Europe and the Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty MP.
Acting as Chief Minister this week, Dr Joseph Garcia was presented with a framed photograph of the Gibraltar Special Olympics team on Tuesday, by the association's President Annie Risso.
The memento was intended as a thank you to the Government, which was the main sponsor of the Gibraltar team in the recent World Winter Games that took place in South Korea.
After dropping off an engine in Sigonella Italy, six members of the 435 Canadian Air Force squadron, from Winnepeg, spent the night in Gibraltar as part of an on route stop.
The Government’s Department of the Environment recently attended the Mediterranean Steering Committee meeting in Brussels aimed at gathering important information on EU protected habitats and species. Representatives from the different countries in the Mediterranean were present, amongst other European Insitutions and organisations, such as the European Commission,the European Environment Agency and the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity. Gibraltar’s representative was Stephen Warr, a Gibraltar Government Biologist.
Opposition member for the Environment, Jaime Netto, has written to Dr. John Cortes regarding this issue of the Barbary Macaques. Within the document, Mr. Netto notes, ‘I am aware that drastic solutions to the problem, such as culling animals, are problematic.
In the past, you have advised Government Ministers (myself included) of the need to cull responsibly to achieve adequate demographic and genetic management of the macaque population. Despite this, your colleagues when in Opposition campaigned against the GSD Government for having done so.