USVI and BVI leaders held 8th Inter Virgin Islands Council meeting in Tortola

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie met in Road Town, Tortola, on February 4, 2020, for the eighth meeting of the Inter Virgin Islands Council, where officials discussed tourism, transportation, border security, fisheries and the potential threat of coronavirus.

Government House said the meeting was the first council session since Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck both territories in 2017 and the first under the Bryan and Fahie administrations.

According to the release, the council reviewed tourism strategies, possible regional cooperation on tourism marketing, airport and seaport development, inter-territorial coordination involving charter yacht companies, and fisheries policy.

Officials from the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, the Virgin Islands Port Authority and the BVI Tourist Board presented tourism development reports, including projects at Cyril E. King Airport and the Red Hook ferry terminal on St. Thomas, and Henry E. Rohlsen Airport and the Gallows Bay ferry terminal on St. Croix.

Representatives of the USVI Marine Council, the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and BVI officials from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth Affairs, Fisheries, and Agriculture also discussed cooperation and communication on policy matters.

Bryan and Fahie agreed to assign representatives to lead monthly meetings of the council’s 12 standing committees, according to the statement.

The Inter Virgin Islands Council was established on May 29, 2004, through a joint memorandum of understanding signed by former USVI Gov. Charles Turnbull and former BVI Chief Minister Orlando Smith. Its first meeting was held on St. Croix in April 2005.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/bvi-usvi-hold-8th-inter-virgin-island-council-meeting-in-tortola/