Jul 15 - Chief Minister Meets Chairman Of United Nations Committee Of 24
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo met yesterday with the Chairman of the United Nations Committee of 24 Ambassador Xavier Lasso Mendoza in New York.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia and the Minister for Economic Development Joe Bossano.
The meeting came about following the Chief Minister's address to the United Nations in June where the point was made that the Chairman had met and discussed Gibraltar with the representative of Spain. A meeting was arranged with the Chief Minister shortly afterwards.
The meeting with the Chairman took place at the Embassy of Ecuador to the United Nations.
The Chief Minister took the opportunity to put across the Gibraltar position to the Chairman directly and stressed that the right to self-determination of the Gibraltarians must be paramount in the decolonisation of Gibraltar. The role of the United Nations in the decolonisation process was discussed in considerable detail.
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said: "I am grateful to Ambassador Mendoza for the opportunity to meet him in private on a formal basis in his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations Committee of 24. It was useful to hear what the Ambassador had to say but we obviously did not agree on everything. It was nonetheless a very cordial encounter and I think we have left little doubt in the Ambassador's mind of what the position of the Government and People of Gibraltar is on the important issues that are relevant to the determination of the Committee of 24 in relation to decolonisation. I am very pleased with how it went and look forward to the follow up work we will now be doing. Needless to say, I left further copies of the 2006 Constitution with Mr Mendoza and renewed the invitation for a visiting mission."
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