infrastructure andtraining toenable Montserrat toattain genuine TurksandCaicos Islands 50.Mr.Wendal L.Swann, Minister forSocial Services, notedthatprevious statements attheSeminar hadproventhatthepeople oftheremaining British dependent Territories intheCaribbean wereignorant oratbestuneducated about /...A/AC.l09/l043 English Page10 independence andotheravailable options forfuturepolitical status ofthe Territories. Therefore itwaserroneous tosaythatthepeople haddecided against independence. Thatapplied alsotohisTerritory whereindependence hadbeenan issueinaprevious election. 51.Heagreed withtherepresentative oftheBritish Virgin Islands thata Territory should nothaveindependence forced onit.Thepeople oftheTurksand Caicos Islands, however, wouldvigorously resist everyeffort todenythem independence. Nooneshoulddictate howapeople should proceed toanactof self-determination. Herejected theideathataparticular situation inoneor moreTerritories should beusedasanexcuse byanadministering Powertointervene intheaffairs ofanother. 52.Hecautioned thatnational statistics weremisleading. Thepercapita gross national product intheTurksandCaicos Islands amounted to$US4,500. However, over50percentofthelabour forcewasexpatriate. Inordertoelevate the living standards ofthelocalpeople, theTerritory hadsought foreign investment, whichinturnhadattracted foreign labour. According totheMinister, Turksand Caicos Islanders wereforced outofthejobmarketatthehigher endofthe spectrum because ofalackofrequisite skills, andatthelowerendbecause of illegal immigration andcheaplabour fromneighbouring islands. 53.Hecalled upontheSpecial Committee tolookseriously atthequestion of political education ofthepeoples ofthedependent Territories andthefuture political status options available tothem. 54.Inalaterstatement, theMinister saidthatrecolonization described the process taking placeintheBritish-dependent Territories. In1984,theGovernor oftheTurksandCaicos Islands hadagreed toleasetheislands' aerodome, andany others constructed intheinterim, foraperiod of20yearstoaUnited States national. Thecurrent Government, unwilling tohonourthatagreement, wasbeing suedbythatUnited Statescitizen. Whilethecasewasbeingarbitrated inLondon, theUnited Kingdom Government hadsofarrefused tohelptheTerritory locate, much lessfinance, appropriate legalcounsel. 55.Inaddition, theadministering Powerwasseeking tohavelegislation enacted intheTurksandCaicos Islands thatwouldrendersubject toinvestigation any publicofficial knowntobefriendly withsomeone whohadsuddenly become wealthy. TheMinister believed thatenacting suchlegislation wouldentail alevelof scrutiny towhichBritish officials andlawmakers wouldnotbeheld. Heconcluded byexpressing thehopethattheSpecial Committee wouldsendavisiting mission to hiscountry. 56.Mr.AldenDurham, Leader oftheOpposition, saidthatcurrently therewasno programme fortheindependence oftheTurksandCaicosIslands inthenearfuture. Hispartyviewed independence asinevitable andbelieved thattheTerritory could notorshould notrelyontheBritish forever. Consequently, itwascommitted to thedevelopment ofasoundeconomic baseandacadreoftrained personnel sothat independence couldbesustained. I...1A/AC.109/1043 English Page11 57.Hestatedthatthe1988Constitution was"thrust uponusbytheBritish". It hadvested supreme powerinthecolonial Governor andhadlegislated a multi-constituency voting systemgiving moreweight tosomevotesthantoothers. Inaddition, ithadcombined islandconstituencies insuchawaythatplaced a smallislandatapolitical disadvantage. Heappealed totheSpecial Committee to persuade theBritish Government toallowTurksandCaicos Islanders moreinputin determining theirownfuture, andtoreinstate theprocess of"oneperson, one vote". Further, heaskedtheSpecial Committee toobserve the1992general elections.
**Analysis**
The text primarily focuses on the political and economic situation of the Turks and Caicos Islands, discussing their independence, political education, and economic development. It also touches on issues related to employment, labor, and foreign investment. The text does not explicitly mention natural resources, agriculture, forestry, fishing, health, humanitarian aid, culture, or science and technology.

**Category**
Economy, Education