Greetings Virgin Islands educators and school administrators. Let me offer you all a hearty welcome back from your vacations and wish you in advance, an exciting and successful 2016/2017 school year.  It is once again a time for new dreams and aspirations, the opportunity to reflect and make new plans for the success of our students, and another chance to impact the lives of the young people whose education has been entrusted to us.

“One of the aims of the Ministry is to prepare students to be globally competitive.”

This week marks the two-year point in my tenure as your Governor and I thought it might be useful to take stock of the past 24 months and to look ahead at the coming year.

In their online publication, BVI Platinum News published an article titled: “Red Alert – UK Had Deep Concerns about Airport Project”.

Each year, we come here to this historic site — the Sunday Morning Well — to celebrate, to remember, to reflect on the story of how our forebears went from struggles to triumph.

Ladies and gentlemen, this weekend we will come together to mark one of our most important historical and cultural events, the Annual BVI Emancipation Festival celebrations, which will continue across this Territory over the next few days.

Ladies and Gentleman of the Press, good afternoon.

Today I would like to engage with you on some of the pertinent international issues of the day and then turn to my Government’s efforts in tourism development.   

Premier and Minister of Finance Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE congratulates UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May

Though the appropriate recognitions have already been made, on this day as we celebrate who we are as Virgin Islanders, permit me to once again acknowledge the presence of:

In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE conveyed deepest sympathy to the Government and people on the passing of former Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative for San Fernando East, Honourable Patrick Manning.