COMMENTS BY THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER, MR. FERGUS COCHRANE-DYET:
Yesterday in Beijing the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was symbolically handed the Olympic Flag, officially marking the start of London’s tenure as Summer Olympic Host City that will culminate with London 2012. This took place as the spectacular closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in front of a worldwide audience estimated to be around 1.6 billion.
In celebration of this moment, Olympic Handover flags have been raised all over the UK: at the most northerly point of the British Isles in the Shetland Islands, at the most southerly point at Land’s End in Cornwall, at the most easterly point at Lowerstoft, and at the most westerly point in the Scilly Isles. Olympic Handover flags are also being raised elsewhere, including 10 Downing Street, the Mall near Buckingham Palace, and HMS Belfast moored in the River Thames.
Around the world a limited number of British diplomatic missions are raising the Olympic Handover Flag, for example in New York, Berlin, Tokyo, Cape Town, and here in Victoria.
I am delighted that the Olympic Handover Flag will be flying from the British High Commission in Victoria, for today only, to mark the start of the exciting four-year journey from the highly successful Beijing Olympics to the London 2012 Games.
The UK is proud to host the next Summer Olympic Games. Many of the world’s most popular sports originated in Britain (including wiff-waff). It is home to some of the world’s greatest sporting events including Wimbledon, the Grand National, the FA Premier League and the London Marathon.
London 2012, as an international event, will be an opportunity to highlight issues that affect the whole world, using the Olympics to capture people’s attention and imagination.
Among these is climate change, undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of our generation. It is a challenge that we need to tackle with urgency and determination, and which demands a mass global response. The UK, having set legally binding targets to reduce our carbon emissions by at least 26% by 2020 and by at least 60% by 2050, is taking a lead to tackle climate security with international partners like Seychelles.
As I now unfurl the Olympics Handover Flag, it will be with the thought that the UK looks forward to welcoming a team from Seychelles to London 2012, and wishes Seychellois athletes all the best` with their preparations during the intervening four years.