Benito Wheatley

Yet another local official has stepped forward to defend international travel and diplomacy under the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration, insisting that meaningful diplomacy requires physical presence and that the BVI risks weakening its voice if officials stay home.

Special Envoy Benito Wheatley made the remarks during last week’s Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) meetings between the UK government and Overseas Territories (OTs), when he was asked to highlight the benefits of physical representation at the high-level talks, despite public backlash that some of these engagements can be done online.

Wheatley explained that in-person engagement is essential to advancing the BVI’s interests.

“The best way to conduct diplomacy is human-to-human contact,” Wheatley said. “If you’re not in the room, your voice is weaker. For us to do the work of diplomacy, you have to be in the room.”

He added that face-to-face conversations allow OT leaders to build trust, understand concerns, and negotiate from a position of unity — something he believes cannot be replicated through virtual meetings. His comments follow ongoing public criticism at home over the cost and frequency of overseas travel by the VIP government.

UK is obligated to help us

Wheatley also weighed in on the increasingly prominent push for self-determination — a theme many believe his brother, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley, has championed more vigorously than any recent BVI leader.

“Self-determination is our right to choose our own political future,” the special envoy said. He emphasised that under international law, the UK has a duty to support the political, administrative, and economic development of its territories so they can eventually stand fully on their own.

“Our free political institutions, our economic development, our administrative capacity — all of these things should be supported by the UK,” he said. “There will be tensions because our system mixes colonial governance and democratic governance, but we must still work together to reach that goal.”

Wheatley stressed that while both sides have obligations, the BVI’s right to pursue its own future must be respected.

The JMC meetings wrapped last week as OT leaders and UK ministers continue discussions on governance, financing, security and constitutional affairs.