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The Minister for International Development, and Assistant Minister for External Relations, Deputy Carolyn Labey, looks at her recent trip to the USA.
As Assistant Minister for External Relations, with responsibility for growing Jersey’s ties with the state of New Jersey, I have just returned from a very productive first official visit.
One of the highlights was meeting the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, with whom I had the opportunity to discuss how we can grow our relationship.
This was the first time that a representative of the ‘original’ Jersey met one of the 50 elected officials responsible for the government of the American states, and I was delighted to receive such a positive welcome.
He offered his support in developing our ties, and I hope that Governor Murphy will be able visit the Island on his next trip across the pond.
We met at the 109th annual New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference, which brings together all 564 municipalities of New Jersey. This is the largest gathering in the whole of the US and the first time a Government of Jersey minister had attended.
It was an extremely busy few days meeting representatives from across the state. I gave a speech to mayors from across New Jersey and discussed the origins of our historic ties, as well as our desire to grow commercial, social and cultural links in the future.
I gave an interview to US cable channel Comcast to amplify our messages, and I was invited to speak on a thought-provoking panel about the experience of being a woman in government, chaired by Mayor Janice Kovach for the town of Clinton, New Jersey.
I visited Princeton, one of the world’s most prestigious universities, and with their International Internship Program Team, considered how Jersey could benefit from providing placements for Princeton students. Reciprocal opportunities, for Jersey students considering applying to Princeton, were also discussed with the School of Public and International Affairs.
I also travelled to Trenton and met various officials under the administration of Mayor Reed Gusciora, a long-standing friend of Jersey and someone we have been delighted to host for our Liberation Day celebrations several times.
We discussed furthering our twinning agreement with an educational partnership and I invited Mayor Gusciroa with his delegation, to visit the island in 2025, at our important 80th Liberation Day celebration or to the Battle of Flowers next August, to meet representatives from all our parishes.
St Helier is twinned with Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, and I believe we could replicate this relationship in other parishes, to build regional bonds that will benefit the wider community both here and in the Garden State.
My time in New Jersey alone provided considerable value, but I was also able to ‘top and tail’ my attendance at the Conference with engagements in my role as Minister for International Development and chair of Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA).
Jersey can be an example to other small and sub-sovereign jurisdictions in providing aid while also contributing to important global conversations around financial inclusion. This was highlighted in meetings with long-standing JOA partners, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and CGAP – an organisation that works to support those living in poverty through inclusive finance. These discussions, with Joyce Msuya (the Assistant Under-Secretary General of UN OCHA) and Sophie Sirtaine (CGAP’s chief executive officer), were extremely useful and with new leadership in the form of Tom Fletcher and Joyce at UN OCHA, it has opened up work further work initiatives and information sharing for the future.
Throughout my visit, I also discussed the ongoing work on the Island Identity project and the launch this year of Jersey Connections. I am sure that we will see registrations to the platform from those we met, given the interest in our historical links and learning more about the Island.
As Government, we have a vital role to play in facilitating relationship building, and providing opportunities for young people, local organisations and businesses to prosper with America and beyond. This visit was my first to the US as a minister and forms part of a concerted effort to grow international ties. I firmly believe in the importance of continuing these efforts and the people I met were all enthusiastic to forge closer bonds with Jersey. They had a range of ideas on how to progress them, which I am excited to take forward.
