UK CONFIDENT IN CAYMAN, PREMIER REPORTS

Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin and a Cayman delegation have returned from London buoyed by continuing UK confidence in the territory and reporting success from a packed agenda of meetings with top British government and private sector officials.

Discussions included an audience with HRH The Prince of Wales at Highgrove House his private residence.

Extensive talks were held with the Rt. Hon. Conor Burns - Minister of State at the Department for International Trade, Sir Edward Lister - Chief Strategic Advisor to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and the newly appointed Minister of State for the Overseas Territories - Baroness Liz Sugg.

The Cayman delegation also met with officials of the City of London, the Financial District, to discuss areas of possible cooperation.

Premier Alden McLaughlin said, “The meetings in London over the past week were very successful. It provided an opportunity to meet with key advisors to the Prime Minister and to have them hear directly from Cayman business people about our financial services industry and to better understand what we do here, including the extent of our institutional client base.”

“We also discussed the EU listing process and the impact that Brexit politics would have had on that”

The Cayman delegation received assurances that the UK Government continued to have every confidence in the territory Islands and its financial services business.

The UK officials also committed to considering making a public statement confirming this confidence.

Other matters discussed included the potential for UK and Cayman trade, especially in financial services as well as the Blue/Green Fund.

Joining the Premier for these meetings were Alasdair Robertson of Maples; Jess Shakespeare of Pricewaterhouse Coopers; Dan Scott and Eleanor Fisher of Ernst & Young; Kevin Lloyd of KPMG; and Lord Jonathan Marland, Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.

Chief Officer Eric Bush of the Ministry of International Trade and Roy Tatum, Head of the Office of the Premier also participated.

While in London Premier McLaughlin also met with Baroness Sugg, the United Kingdom’s new Minister with responsibility for the Overseas Territories.

“It was also good to meet Baroness Sugg who now has responsibility for the Overseas territories and to discuss areas of mutual interest between the UK and the Cayman Islands,” Premier McLaughlin said.

The meeting with the new Overseas Territories Minister was described as very productive with the Premier and the Minister discussing a broad range of issues facing the Cayman Islands and the UK, including the EU listing process.

Other matters discussed included the potential for UK and Cayman trade, especially in financial services as well as the Blue/Green Fund.

The meeting with HRH Prince of Wales focused on a Cayman Islands-based ‘Blue/Green Fund’ initiative that was introduced to the Prince when he visited the Cayman Islands in March 2019.

The fund is aimed at providing financing to Blue/Green projects in the Caribbean.

It is anticipated that it will be officially launched at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in June of this year by HRH Prince Charles and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Prince Charles had proposed such a fund at the 2015 CHOGM in Malta, however, to date it has not been able to get off the ground.

The Prince was excited that Cayman Islands entities and a Cayman Islands fund will finally be able to achieve this long-awaited goal.

According to a statement from the Office of the Premier, the initial funding will come from local investors, and the Cayman Islands is tipped to be the location for the ‘green project’.

It is anticipated that there are also institutions and high net worth individuals internationally ready to invest a total of US$1 billion into the fund which could be the template for similar blue/green projects in other parts of the world.

“This is not only exciting for green initiatives generally but also shows the value of the Cayman Islands' financial products in providing solutions to benefit green initiatives in the region and beyond,” the statement said.

The London meetings, which were organised by the Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation, and Maritime Affairs, are part of the on-going engagement strategy and partnership with the UK Government and the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.