Opening Address by President Michael Gibbs at the 2021 Legislative Luncheon, July 8, 2021, Aurea Ballroom, Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin my comments by first thanking the Governor, the Premier, members of Cabinet and Parliament and senior Government officials for taking time from your busy schedules to participate and attend this annual Chamber luncheon. Each year Chamber members look forward to meeting and interacting with their elected and official representatives and senior public servants, as demonstrated by today’s soldout audience. I sincerely hope you will all find today’s luncheon informative and interactive. As this is the first opportunity we have had since the election, I would also like to publicly thank the members of Parliament who participated in the Chamber’s Candidates Forums in March and April. The Chamber has been hosting these forums each election and by-election since 1988, as a non-partisan platform to provide voters with an opportunity to compare the candidates’ positions on the key issues. We received very positive feedback concerning the online format of this year’s forums and I trust that they helped voters to decide their preferred candidates in this year’s election. My final expression of appreciation on behalf of Chamber members goes to the Governor, the past and present elected Governments, public sector officials and public and private health care professionals for keeping our islands safe during the global pandemic. Your efforts, from swiftly securing our borders to quickly obtaining a steady supply of vaccines from the United Kingdom, have been truly heroic and we will be forever grateful. Thank you for your ongoing efforts. Reopening our borders The topic at the forefront of most Chamber members’ minds is the safe reopening of our borders, and this has been vigorously debated for several months. Marc Langevin, President of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, serves on the Chamber Council and he has been
providing the Council with regular updates from recent and past meetings that have taken place with key public and private sector stakeholders who are working to develop a plan. This is reassuring news since setting a firm date to reopen to stayover visitors is vitally important, so that we do not miss another winter tourism season. Many stayover visitors and large incentive groups have reserved dates during the winter months but are becoming increasingly concerned that unless a reopening date is announced very soon, they may have to cancel their reservations and travel to another jurisdiction. This would be disastrous to our economy and especially to the tourism sector and the many small businesses that have struggled to survive during the past year. We are certainly aware that preparing to reopen our borders is no easy task or decision...and does present significant challenges, but also several opportunities. Firstly, it is a perfect opportunity to recalibrate the tourism sector to attract, train and promote more Caymanians to take up satisfying and rewarding careers in this industry sector. Attracting more Caymanians to the industry will also address the common observation in DOT visitor surveys that they want to see more Caymanians interacting with them during their stay. The Ministry of Tourism, DOT, CITA and other tourism stakeholders are working diligently to provide training and incentives to attract Caymanians into the industry. Training programmes and courses such as the certified Bartender course organised by Chamber Vice President Nelson Dilbert in partnership with Cayman Spirits Company and the Wine School is just one example of an innovative way that should be encouraged and supported to attract Caymanians to become involved in the industry. The Chamber fully supports these efforts and congratulates all stakeholders for working to motivate and encourage more Caymanians into the tourism and hospitality sector.
Additionally, the hotels and condominiums that have undertaken extensive improvements and investments in their properties should also be recognised…. the newly renovated and soon to be opened Hampton Inn, current refurbishments to the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, Sunset House, the Westin and several condominiums will provide visitors with an updated and fresh product. These multi-million-dollar investments and upgrades clearly demonstrate investor confidence and will serve us well in the coming years. But with every opportunity there are also some challenges. The jurisdiction will need to agree on its final policy on vaccination for visitors, as well as new and current work permit holders, and determine the implications of these decisions. Many countries are not in the same position as Cayman in terms of access to vaccinations. In fact, top countries for recruitment like Jamaica, the Philippines and India, are struggling to acquire vaccines, which will present some challenges when employers seek to recruit from these countries. Tourism and Health officials will also need to determine the process for confirming records for vaccinated travelers, particularly from the United States, our top destination for visitors, which has yet to confirm an authenticated process for persons who have been vaccinated. These challenges can be overcome, but it will take careful planning by the Government and the cooperation of the private sector to develop a policy that is reasonable and effective. We certainly look forward to the Premier’s address, which I am sure will provide us with an update on Government’s decisions and plans in these areas, including whether it will be mandatory for all work permit holders to be vaccinated. Advocacy Agenda: Moving now to the Chamber’s Advocacy Agenda. The global pandemic has reshaped economic and political agendas and priorities around the world ….and the Cayman Islands is certainly no different.
Last month, to better understand the issues facing the main industry sectors, the Chamber’s Executive Committee invited the heads of the various industry associations for a consultative working lunch at the Grand Old House. We asked the associations to share their top issues, so that the Chamber could adjust our advocacy agenda and focus on the areas of common concern. Among the top issues raised were the access to and cost of attracting qualified labour, escalating prices and access to affordable construction materials, reopening our borders, increased investment in and promotion of the financial services sector, overall strategy for the promotion of the jurisdiction, education reform, sustainable development, escalating land and housing prices, availability of affordable rental properties and pension and health insurance reform. There is certainly not enough time to address each of these areas, but I would like to offer some comments on pension and health insurance reform, the importance of the financial services sector, investment promotion and education reform. Pension system reform: The private pension system was launched in 1998 to kick start retirement saving for Caymanians and residents. Up to that time, only Caymanians working in large firms, or employed with the public sector had access to pension savings accounts, so most people relied on Government or other investments to supplement retirement income. It was known at the time that the private pension system would take many years to build up enough money to become a true vehicle to provide full retirement coverage, particularly for persons who joined the system in the latter years of their employment. Last year’s pension withdrawal demonstrated the success of the system, with nearly half a billion dollars being readily accessible by the members of the various plans. The withdrawals provided much needed supplemental income for many persons who were facing economic challenges as a result of the pandemic, and a much-needed boost to our local economy.
The withdrawals have, however, placed the Cayman Islands in the challenging position of determining what measures to enact to replace the money that was withdrawn. Last month, the Chamber’s Executive Committee met with a group of pension plan administrators to discuss this situation. They presented a series of recommendations that the Chamber plans to share with the Minister for consideration. For many years, private pension reform has been necessary and advocated by the administrators. It is therefore hoped that the current situation will lead to some practical decisions to revise the National Pensions Law and Regulations, as well as the investment guidelines, so the pension system can be reshaped to achieve its intended purpose of providing meaningful retirement income when its most needed. Health insurance reform: Moving now to health insurance. The escalating cost and limited choice of health insurance providers is creating significant duress in the private sector and especially among persons who have reached, or are approaching, retirement age. Last week, a Chamber small business member reported that their premiums had increased by more than 50% year over year. That increase for 12 employees will reportedly add $100,000 in additional cost to that business this year alone…. …and this increase is compounded by previous increases year on year. This is obviously unsustainable! You truly know the system is not working when persons who have contributed the best years of their working life must decide whether they can retire in Cayman or have to move to another jurisdiction because they can’t afford the health insurance coverage here. The Chamber plans to meet with the Minister responsible and the industry stakeholders so that we can work together to hopefully develop some reasonable solutions to address this serious matter. Turning now to Financial Services: The financial services sector is one of the key pillars of our economy, but during the pandemic it became our main pillar. If it was not for this sector, it is
likely that we would have had to make a decision to open our borders much sooner, before we achieved the vaccination levels that we have today, which is what has occurred in several countries in the region whose economies are based primarily on tourism. It is therefore important that our islands take a closer look at how we invest in the sector and what we are doing to address the misinformation that exists in the international arena of public opinion. During last week’s first meeting with the Minister of Financial Services and Commerce, the Hon. Andre Ebanks, we raised the matter of providing additional funds to support the promotion of the sector and developing a public/private sector partnership, similar to other competitor domiciles, that allocates sufficient resources, expertise and funding so we are in a position to proactively promote and defend the industry. During recent meetings with Cayman Finance, we learned that competing jurisdictions invest millions of dollars in promotion and lobbying in order to protect and to grow the sector. We therefore look forward to working with the Minister and are encouraged by his initial supportive comments. Encouraging sustainable investment: Later this year, the Chamber will be sending a delegation to the World Chambers Congress in November in Dubai. We will join Chambers from around the world that gather every two years to share best practices and to promote their jurisdictions. This year’s conference coincides with the World Expo which is also being hosted in Dubai between October 2021 to March 2022. The United Kingdom will be setting up a pavilion which we understand that the Cayman Islands can be part of. This is a great opportunity to promote the Cayman Islands and the Brand Cayman and Invest Cayman concepts to the world. Chamber representatives and other business leaders attended
focus groups for the Brand Cayman concept and we look forward to seeing the final version unveiled and working with Government in this undertaking. Education Reform: Education reform featured prominently during the recent election campaign. Nearly all candidates mentioned some aspect of education reform in their manifestos and during public meetings. Education is often regarded as “a political football” that is tossed from administration to administrative with differences of opinion on what needs to be improved or changed to ensure that students possess the skills that are required to become productive contributors in the workforce, or entrepreneurs who start their own businesses. The Chamber will be organising an Education Summit later this year which we hope will generate an open and frank conversation and exchange of views between educators and employers, on what needs to take place to bridge the gap between the world of work and the classroom, so that our students are prepared and ready to fill the jobs and business opportunities of the future. We intend to meet with the Minister soon to discuss the event and seek her support and partnership for the event. Partnership for success: Establishing a working partnership with the new Government is one of the Chamber’s main priorities. I wrote to the Premier in May congratulating him and his new Government on the election, seeking to establish quarterly meetings so that we can work together in partnership to address some of the issues that I have mentioned. We received a positive response and the Chamber’s Executive Committee looks forward to the first meeting. At times we may have differences of opinion, but it is important to meet and to discuss and debate options for taking our islands forward. The Chamber is pleased with our track record of working with successive governments on various initiatives; from the establishment of the islands’ first employee counselling service for businesses, the Employee Assistance Programme, the creation of Cayman Crime Stoppers, the
island’s first multi-employer pension plan, the island’s first mentoring programme in the schools, the island’s first teacher appreciation awards programme, the Golden Apple Awards, Small Business workshops, trade missions to Panama and other countries, the Earth Day Cleanups and Cayman Clean campaign, this annual Legislative Luncheon, and the annual Economic Forum. Each of these initiatives has been achieved in partnership with various Government Ministries and Departments. Earlier this year, we met with the Deputy Governor and he updated us on his goals and progress towards developing a world-class Civil Service. The Chamber committed to assist and in that regard, we have just conducted a Public Sector Performance Survey and will be sharing the results with the Deputy Governor shortly. So, in closing, we stand ready and willing to work with the new Government as we develop strategies to achieve continued success for all residents and businesses that call Cayman home. Thank you for your attention.