Successful Virtual Island Summit – Summary and outcomes
London, United Kingdom – The Cayman Islands Representative to the UK and Europe was panellist at a “Virtual Island Summit” on Saturday 12 September.
The Virtual Island Summit is an online event designed to connect global islands to share their common experiences through a digital platform. Speakers and participants included islanders, academics and Governments from around the world to share insights and ideas. Island Innovation, running the summit, is a social enterprise for sustainable development and communications, bringing together the private sector, government, utilities, NGOs and universities to advance innovation for sustainability and prosperity in islands worldwide.
Mr Ebanks joined Benito Wheatley, Special Envoy, British Virgin Islands Government, Dr Kate Matheson, Department of Health and Social Sciences, University of the West of England and The Honourable Teslyn Barkman MLA, Falkland Islands Government on a Panel entitled “Brexit and Beyond: Global and Local Challenges in the UK Overseas Territories”. The panel was moderated by Dr Peter Clegg, Head of Department Health and Social Sciences, Uni of the West of England.
The summit participation was an opportunity to promote the Cayman Islands’ aptitude and excellence alongside other island nations, as well as help identify opportunities for Overseas Territories like Cayman post Brexit and develop new trains of thought about the Cayman Islands internationally.
In his remarks, Mr Ebanks commented that he wished “to convey on behalf of Cayman, an illustration of how, with the support of Britain, we can recalibrate Cayman’s relationship with the UK and the EU.” Mr Ebanks talked about Cayman’s response to COVID and the importance of working so closely and collaboratively with the UK. He commented “I wanted to describe the highly coordained, caring and careful approach between the UK and Cayman to get things done and preserve life during COVID, and make the point that this working relationship between Cayman and the UK was in full public view for Caymanians and residents in Cayman to see for themselves, reiterating the human element of this partnership.”
He went on to say “The overarching opportunity that this presents is to harness the bonds that have been forged during this pandemic. A few early seeds have been planted in Cayman including exploring ways in which UK’s financial services industries can work closely with Cayman’s financial services to develop a niche area in which to be a domicile of choice for environmental and social investment funding vehicles.” He further commented that “..this could be one of our global contributions to Green/Blue Finance.” He further commented that “it was important to highlight the versatility of Cayman, and the role it can play within the Global Britain family post Brexit in a number of potential areas of collaboration.”
Other speakers shared their respective territory’s views on the Overseas Territories relationship with the UK and the EU in current conversations.
In closing, Mr Ebanks said of his experience: “It was privilege to speak at this international summit. It was another great opportunity to convey hopeful messages about what Cayman can achieve as a country in the foreseeable future, and also to share our insights and experience with fellow island nations in the global stage.”
The panel was followed by a question and answer session involving questions around the future relationships, OT involvement in COP 24 in Scotland and shared attempts to mitigate threats.
The full summit video and Q&A can be viewed by registering with Island Innovation: www.islandinnovation.co/summit/.
The full video can be found at the agenda schedule at 3pm on Saturday 12 September 3pm.
Covid-19: All persons wishing to travel to, from and within the Cayman Islands, whether by air or sea, are asked to reconfirm their intentions and desire to travel.