The Hon. Alexander F. Dowine
Hon. Alexander F. Dowine OBE MLC from the Isle of Man has made a pledge of support and training of parliamentary procedures and other areas of expertise to the Government of Montserrat by. The pledge was made on Wednesday, January 15, 2015 during a two-day post-election seminar held at the Montserrat Cultural Center in Little Bay. The representative from the Isle of Man at the two day event pledged his government support in training and technical support to the Government of Montserrat.
The Hon. Alexander F. Dowine who was one of the three facilitators at the seminar made the announcement during his presentation at the opening ceremony on Wednesday. Hon. Dowine says “the Isle of Man has made significant strides even as an Overseas Territory and is willing to offer some of their best practice to the Government Montserrat”.
The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Overseas Territory located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. The island boasts having the oldest parliament system in the world; which is as old as a 100 years. Their parliamentary system is made up of 2 main arms; the legislative arm and the House of Keys.
According to Dowine, other countries have also benefited from assistance by the government of the Isle of Man in training in Parliamentary procedures and other areas of technical development including Kenya.
In expressing appreciation, Deputy Premier Delmaude Ryan said: “We always welcome support and assistance,” in response to the offer made by the parliamentarian.
The two day workshop proceeded with several sessions on areas of importance to sustainable functioning of the government and also giving the elected members the opportunity to gain knowledge in areas of interest to them.
