Garcia in Washington for Political Meetings
The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia is in Washington for a series of meetings with Members of the US Congress and others. This annual visit to the US capital had been suspended as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that ensued.
Dr Garcia has a busy schedule with over twenty meetings spread over the two and a half day visit. The time will be used to update Republican and Democrat Members of Congress on Gibraltar- related matters. The last Gibraltar Government visit to Washington was in 2019, which was also the year of a Congressional visit to Gibraltar under the UK MECEA programme. The meetings with Members of Congress were in different Congressional Office buildings or in the US Capitol itself.
The objective of the visit is to improve the long and historic relationship between Gibraltar and the United States of America, through the UK. This stretches back to 1801 when the US Navy carried out from Gibraltar its first ever operation overseas against Barbary pirates. During World War One over forty US vessels and four thousand seamen were based in Gibraltar, and in the Second World War General Eisenhower planned Operation Torch from tunnels deep inside the actual Rock itself. That relationship has evolved to the present day, when the US Navy and Air Force continue to be regular visitors.
In addition to those political meetings, the Deputy Chief Minister met with the head of the American Battle Monuments Commission, in order to discuss the Government’s ideas for the area surrounding the American War Memorial in Line Wall Road. These were published some years ago as the first phase of a “Walk the Wall” project. The meeting followed the visit to Gibraltar of a delegation from the Commission in September. The Memorial was built by the United States of America precisely to mark the role of the US Navy at Gibraltar during the First World War and it is one of 32 US Federal Monuments that the Battle Monuments Commission is responsible for maintaining and promoting.
The Deputy Chief Minister will leave Washington for London in order to join the Chief Minister there on Friday for meetings related to the ongoing treaty negotiations.
