Garcia in Washington for Congress meetings

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia is in Washington for a series of meetings with members of the US Congress and others for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Garcia has a busy schedule with over twenty meetings spread over the two-and-a-half-day visit, a spokesman for No.6 Convent Place said.

“The time will be used to update Republican and Democrat Members of Congress on Gibraltar-related matters,” the Government spokesman said.

“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, the Government spokesman said.

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 Government spokesman said.

“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.”

Dr Garcia will leave Washington for London in order to join the Chief Minister there on Friday for meetings related to the ongoing treaty negotiations, the spokesman added.