Jul 22 - Interview With Albert Poggio: "It's A Difficult Time For Gibraltar Ahead"
A former businessman who served the Government of Gibraltar for nearly 30 years has just retired from his role as the UK representative for the Government of Gibraltar and Director of Gibraltar House in London.
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo held a reception to honour Albert Poggio on a trip to London last month, but he has been asked to stay on to assist the Government during this time of political lobbying following a majority Brexit vote in the EU Referendum.
He will be staying on and helping his successor, former Gibraltar Chronicle editor Dominique Searle, who was recently appointed as the Government of Gibraltar’s UK representative.
Mr Poggio is also working with the National Mint for coinage for Gibraltar and is working with the Minister for Economic Development, Joe Bossano, on inward investment.
With Theresa May being appointed Prime Minister and her policy of “Brexit means Brexit”, and with the added threat of Spain pushing forward her sovereignty claim, Mr Poggio says things are going to be tough for Gibraltar.
“It’s a difficult time for Gibraltar ahead, so we need every friend that we can muster in the UK, and I am happy to step up to the plate to help,” he said.
“I don’t know the way forward and I don’t think anyone else does. At the moment with the political upheaval in the UK, politicians haven’t been able to think of a way forward.
“One thing the Prime Minister has said, and I can’t think of it in any other way is that Brexit means precisely that, Brexit, and for Gibraltar of course there is a perfect storm ahead of us.
“We’ll have to be upbeat about it and we are a very resilient people and we have faced diversities before, situations were different in the past, but nevertheless we will survive and it’s a question of having to.
“We will not reconsider our sovereignty, I don’t think that’s in anyone’s mind and the determination of the Gibraltarian character will shine and see us through.”
Mr Poggio says Gibraltar enjoys much support in the British Parliament, with plenty of friends within the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar and many others. Under Tony Blair’s government seeking a joint-sovereignty deal with Spain, Mr Poggio said this was the second largest group in Parliament at the time, with many others voicing their support for Gibraltar.
Mr Poggio says the Chief Minister has worked hard to cement a relationship with the Foreign Office over the past five years, but it’s the MPs who bring up Gibraltar in Parliament, which is more important for Gibraltar.
With regards to the UK representative's role in London, Mr Poggio said it is hugely important, and believes it will be even more so for his successor Mr Searle in the following months.
When Mr Poggio first took over the London office, it was mainly a tourist office, and has seen it grown under his directorship.
Having been appointed by the then Chief Minister Joe Bossano, Mr Poggio said he took the role on for a year reluctantly, but after a year he found the role far more exciting and demanding than running his own business, and he decided he wanted to continue with the Gibraltar office role.
Gibraltar House in London helped to promote the new pillars of the economy of Gibraltar nearly 30 years back which were the financial services, the port, shipping services and tourism.
Mr Poggio is involved in a number of different groups, he is the Vice-Chair of the Calpe House Trust and has been involved in the fundraising and refurbishment of it. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the Friends of Gibraltar in the UK, the President of the Friends of the British Overseas Territories.
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