UK/OT
International Trade Summit

Opening
Remarks

By
Premier Hon Alden McLaughlin, MBE, JP, MLA

Thursday
27th
June, 2019

Kimpton
Seafire Resort

Welcome
Lord Ahmad, fellow heads of government and representatives, Deputy
Governor, members of Cabinet, the Legislative Assembly and other
distinguished guests.

I
think by now everyone will know that this weekend marks the 60th
anniversary of the first written Constitution of the Cayman Islands.
I am delighted that we have been able to organise the pre-JMC meeting
and this summit to coincide with those celebrations. And I am even
delighted that you can all be a part of this weekend’s festivities.

Over
those 60 years, the relationship between the United Kingdom and
Cayman, as with all of the Oversea Territories, has developed and
matured. There seems to me to be a process of onward progress that
takes a significant step forward every 20 years or so.

Having
become a British Crown Colony in our own right in the late 1950s, we
were all designated as Dependent Territories in 1981 and subsequently
as Overseas Territories in 2002. Words have consequences and the
shifting nomenclature – from colonies to dependencies to finally
being recognized as “overseas” – matters. In my view, it marks
the increasing maturity of our relationship.

Perhaps
it is inevitable, therefore, that we are now thinking about what the
next stage in the development of our relationship should be.

Certainly,
this event, the first international trade summit organised between
the UK and the Overseas Territories, marks a significant milestone in
the continued development of our relationship.

The
UK itself faces both the uncertainties and the very real
opportunities that life outside the European Union will bring. The
response, of which we will hear much more later, has been the
development of the Global Britain Initiative.

The
Secretary of State was generous enough to invite me to lead a
delegation to the GREAT Festival of Innovation in Hong Kong last year
and I confess that experience was a real eye-opener for me. I saw
first-hand the potential for a dynamic and creative partnership
between the UK and ourselves in the Territories.

The
UK has shown itself to be willing to open doors for us and to offer
support and expertise but it is down to us in the Territories to put
ourselves in a position to exploit the opportunities that our
membership of the UK family brings.

In
Cayman we have responded by establishing our own new Ministry of
International Trade and will we be opening an Asia Office in Hong
Kong early in the New Year. Each of you will no doubt be thinking
about your own response to the opportunities that the future will
bring.

This
Summit is designed to be a catalyst for that thinking as we develop
our mutual understanding of both the current picture and of the key
areas for potential development.

Today
is very much about hearing from the United Kingdom what the future
might look like while tomorrow we will showcase what the Territories
have to offer.

So
as we think about what the relationship between the United Kingdom
and the Overseas Territories might become, I urge us to think in
these terms. We come from a shared history, cemented by our common
values and our loyalty to the Crown. We have shown the resilience
and flexibility to adapt and develop our relationship over many
decades. We share an ambition for mutual growth and for the future
prosperity of our people.

In
short, we are at our strongest when we act together. The next two
days will, I believe, develop our understanding of how and where we
might utilize that strength for the benefit of all of our people.

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