Head of Secretariat in the Office of the Premier, Mr. Ronlee James in currently in the Isle of Man on a one-week training programme designed for support staff of senior government officials. The Programme will run from Monday September 16 to Thursday 19 September2013.
During this period Mr. James will meet and work with members of the Isle of Man government and senior officers in the Legislature; observe the recording and ratifying of executive decisions and experience first hand, the operations of government.
The visit was arranged by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in coordination with the Isle of Man Government and funded by the FCO.
Mr. James left the TCI on September 6, 2013 along with Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing for the Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Oversees Territories Governments in Gibraltar. On September 12, he attended his first meetings as the TCI Sherpa or Emissary in preparation for the Annual Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Conference (JMC) for Leaders of British Oversees Territories (BOT) scheduled for London in November.
As Sherpa, Mr. James is the personal representative of the Premier and is responsible for aiding in the development of agenda items for meetings of BOT leaders. The role is expected to contribute to a deepening of the relationship between the UK and its Overseas Territories.
In the lead up to the meeting, the Sherpas are expected to work along with the leaders to among other things:
(i) identify the issues which were priorities for the Territory and UK Governments and the action that leaders wanted to initiate;
(ii) draft a communiqué which reflected those aspirations and identified concrete priorities for joint action
(iii) Plan and organise other meetings/events during the week of the meetings.
Mr. James will return to the islands on September 22.
