Thursday 12 May 2022
Guernsey has attended the annual political summit with the departmental council of Ille-et-Vilaine to review how they have been working together. There is a cooperation agreement that Guernsey joined in 2017, which was renewed in 2020 for a further three years. The departmental council of Ille et Vilaine hosted the 2022 summit in Rennes; the first time that the meeting has taken place in person since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cooperation agreement, between Guernsey, Jersey and the departmental council of Ille et Vilaine, facilitates joint working in a number of areas, including education, youth mobility, culture and arts, overseas aid, transport and trade. It also enables discussions on strategic issues such as the impact on the Channel Islands of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, member of the Policy & Resources Committee with responsibility for external relations, said:
"It was a pleasure for me to attend in person at the annual summit with the authorities of Ille-et-Vilaine. Guernsey has important social and cultural links with our close neighbours in the region of Brittany, and the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in particular. The annual summit gives us an opportunity to review the positive and varied work carried out by our jurisdictions together during the year on matters covered by the cooperation agreement. We can also discuss and learn from each other about some of the wider issues that are affecting all of us, including our responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. I look forward to the further development of projects under this cooperation agreement to the benefit of us all."
