Bryan said he would meet BVI premier on March 7 and marked Virgin Islands History Month

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said during a Government House briefing on St. Croix on March 3, 2025, that he planned to meet British Virgin Islands Premier Natalio Wheatley on March 7 to discuss proposed increases affecting U.S. Virgin Islands-based charter yacht operations in the BVI.

Bryan said he intended to seek what he described as an equitable resolution. He also said the BVI was seeking to build its industry.

During the briefing, Bryan also said he had spent the previous week in Washington attending the Interagency Group on Insular Areas 2025 meeting at the Department of the Interior and the National Governors Association meeting. He said he continued lobbying for federal priorities including a permanent extension of the rum cover-over tax rate, the reopening of the refinery on St. Croix, and a special visa waiver program tied to tourism and recovery efforts.

Bryan also marked Virgin Islands History Month and cited David Hamilton Jackson, Dr. George F. Tyson and Alton Adams.

He congratulated Kruz Schembri-McCord for winning a gold medal in the men’s junior individual epee division at the 2025 Junior Pan American Championships in Paraguay.

Bryan also noted the return of the Virgin Islands Army National Guard’s 661st Engineer Utilities Detachment after a nine-month deployment. He said the government’s contract with VIGL for work at the Randall Doc James Racetrack on St. Croix would be addressed in a separate release.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-previews-meeting-with-bvi-officials-celebrates-vi-history-and-recognizes-return-of-national-guard-troops/