The Chief Minister has been attending a conference
hosted by the British Virgin Islands at which he was one of the key speakers.
There are two aspects of this encounter which interest me which I shall return
to in a moment.
However the first point I want to make is that
traditionally Gibraltar has looked to the UK as being its main partner in the
world. Although this relationship is still of major importance and the bed rock
of Gibraltar the nation there is a much bigger world out there to which we have
to relate.
Unlike the UK, an island nation, Gibraltar is an
integral part of the continent of Europe. In many ways the importance of the EU
in our daily lives is far greater than it is to Britons. If the UK was to withdraw
from the EU then it would spell economic and political disaster for Gibraltar.
As the Chief Minister has previously stated in Brussels: Gibraltar wants more
Europe and not less.
However what his visit to the BVI demonstrates is that
apart from the UK and Europe the British Overseas Territories are not just a
club we belong to but a club in which we should be a major player. I do not
believe an MP speaking for the British Overseas Territories at Westminster is a
good idea because quite simply the interests are too diverse. In contrast I do
believe the OTs should organize themselves in to a working union centred on
themselves and not via the UK.
This brings me to the first aspect of the BVI meeting
which interests me. It was when the OT Premiers first met in Gibraltar last
year that our Chief Minister
highlighted to them that each of the Territories are world leaders in diverse
fields and should be seeking to leverage that together internationally. This is
something he has carried through to the BVI conference. He again pointed out
that Bermuda is the world leader in captive insurance business; the BVI is the
top jurisdiction for company registrations in the world; the Cayman Islands are
the main jurisdiction in the world for the incorporation of Hedge Funds; and
the Falkland Islands enjoy potentially huge oil reserves and fishing grounds;
with Gibraltar being the "online Las Vegas" in virtual gaming.
Suddenly collectively they are transformed from being smaller players to world
leaders and as a collective unit are a formidable group.
The second aspect is when
the Chief Minister explained that, in Gibraltar, he is about to launch a
platform of e-government through the use of information and communication
technology. This will provide a more efficient and effective administration
which will make Government services more accessible and will make more
information available to citizens, thus intentionally making the Government
more accountable. The Chief Minister also announced that his government will
shortly introduce a new identity card which will be allow for even greater
e-government applications to be accessible to citizens.
Well three cheers for
that! In October I attended a Committee of the Regions Conference at the EU in
Brussels where towns, cities, communities and small nations demonstrated how
they were using information and communication technology to do exactly what the
Chief Minister described. The point I have always made is given the relative
small population in Gibraltar and the compact nature of the community then
e-government and e-democracy should be relatively easy to introduce here. Not
only that but once up and running Gibraltar should then become a reference
point across Europe and the wider world of these very technologies.
What we are seeing is
Gibraltar pushing itself out from its traditional border, promoting itself
beyond its traditional alliances. Whilst these alliances remain important
Gibraltar’s place amount the OT world leaders and at the forefront of the
development of e-government is what marks the future.
