COMMUNIQUE OF THE MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE FORUM OF DIALOGUE ON GIBRALTAR

1. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of the Kingdom of Spain, Sr D.Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Mr David Miliband, and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Mr Peter Caruana ("the participants") held the third Ministerial meeting of the Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar today in Gibraltar under the terms of the Joint Communique of 16 December 2004. The meeting took place in a cordial and constructive atmosphere.

2. Since the last Ministerial Meeting in London on 2nd July 2008 there have been two other rounds of discussions in the Forum. These meetings have reviewed implementation of the arrangements agreed in Cordoba, and have also considered and developed a detailed framework which sets out the parameters for forthcoming negotiations in those six areas that we agreed in London for future co-operation.

3. We reviewed progress on the implementation of the Cordoba Statements and discussed some items that remain pending implementation in the Airport Declaration. We confirmed our commitment to further improvements in fluidity at the fence/frontier. The Participants will engage further with each other to bring this about. As regards the Instituto Cervantes, we look forward to the Institute) starting activities from premises in Market Lane before the end of the year. We confirmed our commitment to concluding all outstanding aspects of the implementation of the Cordoba Statements.

4. As foreshadowed in London in July last year, we further confirmed our commitment to the creation of a constructive atmosphere of mutual confidence and cooperation for the benefit and prosperity of Gibraltar and the whole region, in particular the Campo de Gibraltar, and we endorsed that co-operation and mutual trust should become the norm.

5. We have today agreed the detailed framework for forthcoming negotiations in relation to the new agenda issues, which is set out in the Annex to this Communique. This will take forward our agenda on the six issues for the second phase of the Forum's work that we agreed in London last year, namely the environment; financial services and taxation; judicial, customs and police cooperation; education; maritime communications and safety; and visa-related issues.

6. This detailed framework document sets out the overview and objectives of the parameters for negotiations in relation to each of the six subjects, as well as procedures and mechanisms that will need to be considered in reaching agreements to take forward the areas of co-operation.

We have sought to ensure a high level of environmental protection in Gibraltar and the whole region, especially the Campo de Gibraltar, by proposing co-operation in areas such as pollution from maritime activity and traffic, bunkering operations, industrial emissions and water discharges, waste disposal and land reclamations, among others. This co-operation is intended to take the form of liaisons, establishment of contact points and urgent means of communication, rehearsed cooperation in co-ordinated incident response, and other means.

Our framework relating to Financial Services and Taxation highlights our desire to establish normal lines and methods of co-operation including tax exchange of information, regular contacts, liaison and exchanges between regulatory authorities, taxation and anti money laundering issues and policies.

We have agreed that there should be full co-operation in the common objective to fight crime whether local or international, and address the particular challenge of organised crime. The detailed framework that we have approved today therefore lists a series of areas in which we will seek agreements to ensure that this occurs, including exchange of information, joint operations, simplified and clear channels of communication and agreed procedures.

We are agreed on the importance and value of the promotion of educational and cultural understanding, and on encouraging bilingualism and educational exchanges and opportunities in Gibraltar and the region. And so we have identified concrete areas for negotiation to enhance this agenda.

We have agreed a number of areas to take forward our desire to co-operate in maritime communications and safety issues. These include encouraging and enabling direct commercial links and measures to upgrade the safety of maritime navigation and activity, as well as to co-ordinate our incident response capabilities.

And finally, we have agreed to seek ways of further facilitating the Moroccan community in Gibraltar to transit Spain en route to and from Gibraltar and Morocco to visit their families.