May 29 - Chief Minister's Speech At AmCham Gala Dinner
The following speech was delivered by the Chief Minister at a Gala Dinner in St. Michael's Cave on Tuesday evening. The dinner was part of a Gib-U.S trade mission.
Secretary Salazar,
Mr Mayor,
Alcaldesa,
Ministers,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As our guests from the United States have spent their first 24 hours on the Rock, we thought it was a good idea to get them into the very heart of the Rock for dinner!
This morning, when I was invited to officially open the Trade Mission, I thanked Secretary Salazar for having agreed to lead this mission.I know that those of you who are joining us here tonight will know of his long and distinguished service to the United States.
His presence in Gibraltar is therefore a source of huge pride for the Government.
And today at the opening of the session Secretary Salazar you endeared yourself even more to us by describing yourself as a small town guy.
Boy do we understand and feel an affinity with people who understand what it is like to be from a small town!
We, perhaps like no others, understand that what most people think is our greatest disadvantage - our size - is actually our greatest advantage.
We can be fleet of foot in areas where other economies or other nations are juggernauts that just won't budge.
So as you - our guests - consider what Gibraltar can mean for you companies, please see our size as an advantage at your disposal.
I told those of you who hear my opening address that Nynex of New York had trail blazed in the late 80s when it established itself in Gibraltar and triggered a telecoms revolution.
It was that investment in Gibraltar by a US giant which made possible that today we are the online gaming capital of the world, the Silicon Valley of remote gaming innovation as well as a virtual Las Vegas.
But the most important aspect of that investment for Nynex was that we, little Gibraltar, became their showcase for their products in Europe.
We became a working model to illustrate the effectiveness of their product; their efficiency; the shop-window for their particular brand of American ingenuity.
That is what we offer you all in many ways.
An opportunity to prove your product in a European environment;
An opportunity to demonstrate to others in Europe how well your systems can work;
And an opportunity to access the single market of 520m consumers via our membership of the EU.
So I hope that today and tomorrow we are able to promote that sort of investment by other US and international companies.
Already, I can tell you that there have been a staggering 132 meetings held between the people representing the 22 US companies in this mission and the 27 from Gibraltar.
32 further meetings have already been fixed for tomorrow.
Things are really moving.
So a special thanks to the AMCHAM for making this Mission and this opportunity for mutual benefit a reality.
Many of our visitors may have heard that there is sometimes an issue between Gibraltar and the Spanish government on a little something called Sovereignty.
Yes, it that is true.
But it is also true that in this region we work very closely indeed with the municipality next to our, La Linea de la Concepcion.
And tonight I want to welcome the Mayoress of the City of La Linea, Gemma Araujo and her husband to this event tonight.
Gemma, estas tan bien venida como siempre a Gibraltar.
Many of the people who come daily to work into Gibraltar are from La Linea, and they like all of us will benefit greatly from the further strengthening of ties between the United States and Gibraltar.
Some might think it is arrogant for a small nation like Gibraltar to reach of to the United States, the largest trading nation in the world;
But Gibraltarians think big and we can see the huge potential of unlocking this relationship for mutual benefit.
That is why we want to reach out to you to establish stronger ties in trade.
Whether in working with your Cruise companies or your software engineers, your bankers or your energy providers, or consolidating the work done by your telecommunications providers,
We see the benefits to us and this region of attracting investment from the United States.
So you will allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to pay tribute to the man who had the original idea of importing American entrepreneurship to Gibraltar.
He is with us here tonight fresh from a flight from Fiji, where he spent last week educating some youngsters from the UN on what self-determination is all about, the Hon Joe Bossano.
It was Joe who as Chief Minister revolutionised what Gibraltar could aspire to by the importation of Nynex of New York to take over a government telephone department that took months to install new phones or repair those that might have broken.
Imagine going from that to the state of the art fibre link around the world and the EurIndia cable in less than 25 years and enabling the development of the gaming industry in-between.
Imagine inheriting an economy where you have to borrow to pay recurring expenditure and transforming it into one that delivered surpluses.
Joe for the trading relationship with the US and on so many issues, thank you for your leadership.
And so the baton passes to us to seek to deliver further on the success story of telecommunications.
To turn these excellent 48 hours of meetings into tangible results that - just maybe - 25 years from now may also have been transformational for our economy and for those around us.
I want to thank Juan Verde and Jim Davies of Holland and Knight for their work in organising this mission; as well as the staff of No 6, the GTB and the Financial Services Ministry for their excellent work in organising these events.
Mr Secretary, James, ladies and gentlemen, from my generation of Gibraltarian and from Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar, you can certainly count on our full continued support for the important work you are doing.
So let me wish you great commercial success as a result of all your meetings and interactions.
And may we long celebrate the trading relationship between the United States of America and Gibraltar!
Thank you.
