Mac heads east as he goes back on the road

| 19/11/2009

(CNS): Following his ‘live tour’ of London and five US cities, the new premier goes back on the road next week as he heads out to promote the Cayman Islands financial services industry in Asia. McKeeva Bush and the road show delegates, forming part of the marketing event, will be visiting Singapore and Hong Kong. The goal is not just to promote Cayman’s existing experience and services in the finance sector but to encourage new areas of businesssuch as fund management and reinsurance to relocate.

“We are keen to create the most attractive environment possible to encourage more financial services firms to locate operations in the Cayman Islands,” said Bush when he was in New York “Just as we built our reputation in our current lines of business such as funds, insurance and banking, we know that we need to do the same – even more so – to extend our leadership position in other areas of international financial services.”

After meeting with finance experts in London, the first stop on the tour, the delegates headed to New York, where they met with several leaders in New York’s financial services industry at a briefing held there on 16 November.  As they did in London, the Cayman Islands delegation highlighted the new programmes and incentives identified to facilitate the domiciling and relocation process, including specific immigration policies for new investors and boosting departments’ capacity to service investor relocation in the Cayman Islands.

Government is offering a package which predominately includes changes to immigration policies that will make it easier for financial entities to relocate their staff and attract and retain talent. Government is particularly keen to attract more physical financial operations and move away from the plaque on a door business to more association with the offshore industry.

Several private sector representatives from Cayman Islands firms accompanied the government officials to support the government’s position. Rick Severance from Camana Bay, one of the those private sector partners supporting the initiative, highlighted Camana Bay’s special incentives and a dedicated lifestyle concierge for a select group of potential investors considering relocating to the Cayman Islands.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Wasn’t the Premier just recently scolding PPM for wasting the Government’s/Public Money? It appears that he is now doing the same exact thing!

    Why in the name of all that is holy would he think people would leave the cheaper and more free open markets of Hong Kong to be tied down by the many expenses in Cayman.

    STOP wasting the hard earned money of the islands for stupidity. Businesses are not going to leave the markets of Asia (Hong Kong) for Cayman….do you realise how much further a dollar goes when converted to the HKD.

    I’m sure UDP supporters didn’t vote for the Hon. McKeeva Bush, to use public funding to drive around in a Chevrolet Tahoe, fly to Europe and Asia to ”promote” Cayman.

    I think they are going about this the wrong way. Take Cayman out of financial problems, don’t push the islands deeper into it. Those tickets, meals, hotels, & supplies are adding up!

    • bradley says:

      Bush could for once take the responsibility from government, and allow the professionals of tourism to expand the industry. The UDP could legislate a non-profit organization (a part from the government) that will seek to further tourism in the Cayman Islands. The association will govern itself for the interests of the public and the hotels or companies they represent.

      The association would include those who are learned in the tourism industry and who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate practice of tourism in the Cayman Islands. The body will safeguard the public interests and at the end of the day would have to answer to the Legislative Assembly as to the compliance with labor, environmental, and planning laws. All Bush and government would have to do, is serve as a watchdog over the association so Caymanians are not left out and the environment is not harmed. Who the body represents would do the traveling and inquiries for the best options to be brought before the whole association. The participants could range from Ritz Carlton, Morritts, Treasure Islands, Kirks, etc… those who have some good qualification in tourism and generating business on the Islands. 
       
      Bush needs to leave it to the professionals and let them better our tourism product!  Tourism is not a one-man-show or party-show!  You need to have big minds involved so no one goes hungry. You will find this will be the most affordable way to go, and jobs will increase. We are spending alot for traveling and we the people have to pay government for it.  So we need to have a group working with government in place.
      • Anon says:

        Is it just me, or does anyone else just skip over these "loud" posts in red bold text?

        • Nicky Watson says:

          Not just you – they’re incredibly irritating, and they’re getting more frequent and steadily longer. I’m not approving any more.

          Bradley, please just type in the box. And please keep your comments short.

          • Anonymous says:

            It is like one of those pictures that one can stare upon and a hidden message appears.

            After staring at this for over five minutes, I could clearly make out an image of the barefoot  man.

            Warning: Not recommended for epileptics.

  2. Anonymous says:

    There is no doubt that this whole tour is questionable.  One question that does not seem to have been asked (CNS, your prompt) – how much has it all cost the public coffers.  It is my information that they are flying business class (whilst others in the Govt service are being told to go coach) and staying at top hotel suites – what is all this costing the government.  All anyone sees these days is the McKeever publicity machine, does no one else have a say in Cayman Govt anymore, are they all ‘yes’ men – that seems to be what has been voted for.  Cayman people have never needed the UK oversight more than with McKeever at the helm.  Would you trust your future to him…… you may have to??

  3. Anonymous says:

    So you spend 4 months telling the world that Cayman is broke and in dire straits. Then you go on a world tour to convince  everyone that Cayman is the place to invest. Brilliant move, but do you really think that you can find people with money who would be dumb enough to fall for it?

  4. UniqueCommonSense says:

    Wasteful, Disgraceful Expenditure!!!

    Further, Mckeeva does not even know the difference between an INVESTOR, which creates jobs, vs those who comes to our shores seeking a job, which we call "EXPAT" who requires a work permit and at many times, does take away jobs from Caymanians.

    The fact that he would get on the radio to make a statement in reference to the statement above this clearly confirms that he and his advisors does not know what they talking about – they have no clue of how the financial industry operates!!!

    From his statement below, how is he going to ‘try’ to convince "investors or job seekers" to come to our shores. These very intelligent foreign nationals will be capable of seeing right-through his lacking of understanding of what he is trying to talk about. One should always take heed of the scripture that speaks to the following: ‘For it is better to be thought of, as a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it".

    Its also stunning to come to the realisation that the whole world will know about the "specific immigration policies for new investors" before us Caymanians will……….but are we surprised?????? Naaaaaaah, same of sh*t!!

     "As they did in London, the Cayman Islands delegation highlighted the new programmes and incentives identified to facilitate the domiciling and relocation process, including specific immigration policies for new investors and boosting departments’ capacity to service investor relocation in the Cayman Islands"

  5. Twyla vargas says:

    I HEAR YA PREMIER BUSH, you go right ahead.!!!  Thumbs up.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yea, we don’t expect anything different out of u even though this is obvious wasteful unnecessary money being spent!