Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
TERRITORIAL SURVEY
Type 1 +
From
To:-
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR 11
In Confidence
TERRITORY: TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
POPULATION: 10,000
SPECIAL FACTORS: Ministers of the present Government have said (without much thought about what this means) that they
would like to get out of grant-in-aid and move to full inde- pendence in three or four years. Administrative and natural resources, not so poor in themselves for one island, have to be spread over six. Furthermore, there is historical anti- pathy between the TURKS (Salt) and the CAICOS and it is possible that if the Government in Grand Turk sought indepen- dence, the Caicos Islands would want to remain a dependency.
PROSPECTS FOR INDEPENDENCE: There has been a ministerial
form of government for two years but it is still raw and unpredictable. The Civil Service is extremely inefficient
and the Police Force leaves much to be desired. The terri-
tory is under-developed and could not support itself financially given the existing level of development and aid. Otherwise no special economic or political obstacle to eventual independence.
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES TO INDEPENDENCE: None really, although
some form of closer association with the Bahamas is a faint
possibility.
RECOMMENDED POLICY: Accept dependence for the present. But take all the steps necessary to develop the conditions under which the territory could move to independence if that is
what it wants. We should significantly increase our aid for infrastructural development even if in the short term the
territory would lack the means to service new developments from its recurrent budget. [Note: this statement cannot be codified as policy without ODM's agreement, which has not yet been obtained.] We should do all we can to help the terri- tory attract private investment and we should put in
CONFIDENTIAL
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