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near future; with the others, we may not have to
make up our minds until the end of the decade.
But it would be useful to have more information
about the resource potential of these colonies.
6. It is not possible to draw firm conclusions
for British policy until more detailed surveys
have been made of the geological and fishery
resources in the EEZ of those in paragraph 5. But
the following tentative conclusions have already
emerged:
(i) The EEZ of at least some of our Dependent
Territories are likely to be commercially
important. It will therefore be worth
exerting ourselves at the Law of the Sea
Conference to ensure that dependencies
(ii)
acquire the same rights over EEZ's as
sovereign states.
The EEZ factor was a major determinant of
the case made in the PAR for retaining
sovereignty over the Falkland Islands
Dependencies; it also strengthens the case
for retaining St Helena/Ascension, BIOT
and one or more of the Gilbert and Ellice
Islands. It could even alter the balance
of advantage in favour of retaining the
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat,
Turks and Caicos Islands and Seychelles.
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/(ii)