News
'Rethink procurement rules after natural disasters' - E. Benito Wheatley
WASHINGTON DC, USA - Mr E. Benito Wheatley, the Virgin Islands (VI) Special Envoy for the Government, has called on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and international partners to reexamine approaches to procurement after a natural disaster.
Britain & the Overseas Territories: Toward soft colonialism or modern partnership?
By E. Benito Wheatley
As the United Kingdom (UK) General Election approaches, the country’s ongoing political turmoil over Brexit continues to overshadow the strained relationship between the Overseas Territories’ (OTs) and UK.
The VI’s 70 year journey on the path of self-determination
E. Benito Wheatley
November 24, 2019 will mark 70 years since the Great March of 1949 in which the people of the [British] Virgin Islands (VI) peacefully marched through Road Town to protest the gross neglect of the British Empire. The march at the time was the largest demonstration ever to take place in the islands and changed the course of VI history.
VI renews call for grants under SIDS initiative
NEW YORK, USA - Special Envoy of Premier Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1), Mr E. Benito Wheatley has renewed the Virgin Islands’ (VI) call for inclusion in international support to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) at the High-Level Mid-Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on September 27, 2019.
VI wants deeper partnership with UNDP - E. Benito Wheatley
NEW YORK, USA – Mr E. Benito Wheatley, the Virgin Islands (VI) Special Envoy for the Government, has hailed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a key partner in supporting the territory’s recovery and development after the hurricanes of 2017.
Premier Fahie attends UN meeting on 'eradicating colonialism'
SAINT GEORGE‘S, Grenada – With external regulatory pressures mounting on the Caribbean region and especially on British Overseas Territories (OTs), Virgin Islands (VI) Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) said he had a productive meeting when regional and other global leaders met at a UN Special Committee on Decolonisation seminar held in Saint George’s, Grenada.
VI pays courtesy call on UN Decolonisation Chair
NEW YORK, USA – Amidst external pressures from the UK on certain issues such as removing belongership status and legalizing same-sex marriages in British Overseas Territories (OTs), Mr E. Benito Wheatley, Special Envoy of the Virgin Islands (VI) Government, has paid a courtesy call on Her Excellency, Ambassador Keisha A. McGuire, Esq, Chair of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation (also known as the C24).
UK Gov’t support of OTs welcoming - E. Benito Wheatley
WESTMINSTER, London, UK – Even with mounting pressure from the United Kingdom (UK) to regulate British Overseas Territories (OT’s) in areas like removing belongership status, legalising same-sex marriages and implementing the public beneficial ownership registries, former UK Representative for the Virgin Islands, E. Benito Wheatley says it is welcoming that the UK Government remains committed to the recovery of Caribbean OTs.
VI scholar issues call for more Debates among Candidates
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – The call for debates among Candidates vying to become Legislators of the Virgin Islands (VI), ahead of the 2019 General Election, is reverberating more across the Territory.
VI’s financial independence must be celebrated - E. Benito Wheatley
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – With the introduction of the Virgin Islands (VI) Ministerial Government in 1967, finance was not a portfolio devolved to the elected Government.

