The Bureau des Iles Anglo-Normandes, as the new office is to be called, will replace the Bureau de Jersey, and will support relations with France in areas such as energy, fisheries, civil contingencies, transport links, tourism, education and language links, and business development, according to a statement issued late yesterday.
The two Channel Islands will share the costs of running the office, which is expected to open early in the New Year, the statement said.
The Bureau de Jersey is an arm of the States of Jersey and has offices in Caen, which is in France's Normandy region, and Rennes, in Brittany, and "promotes political, economic, cultural and educational links between Jersey and France", according to the States of Jersey's website.
Jersey minister for external relations Sen Sir Philip Bailhache said the objective of the new joint office, as has been the case with the Bureau de Jersey, "remains to maintain and further develop mutually-beneficial links with Lower Normandy, Brittany, La Manche, and Ille-et-Vilaine", while also building stronger relationships with the French central government in Paris.
Closer relations
The joint office is the latest in a growing number of joint projects by Jersey and Guernsey, in France and elsewhere, as the two former (and still occasional) rivals seek to pool their resources in order to make the most of them.
Guernsey’s deputy chief minister, Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, said the joint office came out of an invitation by Senator Bailhache, in which he invited Guernsey "to join Jersey in developing a joint Channel Islands presence in Caen. The Bureau des Iles Anglo-Normandes is the outcome of that conversation.
“[The Bureau des Iles Anglo-Normandes] is not a new service development along the lines of the establishment of the Channel Islands Brussels office [which Jersey and Guernsey joined forces to launch in 2011]; rather this is a more efficient and effective use of existing external relations budgets.
“Over the past 18 months, as Guernsey and Jersey have been working more closely together in France, the Bureau de Jersey has given Guernsey support which has been very helpful. Now, working together more formally, I am sure that we can achieve more. I know this is a development which will be warmly received in France.”
