Honourable Premier and Minister of Finance and Tourism, Dr. D. Orlando Smith, OBE, Deputy Premier Dr. the Hon. Kedrick Pickering, other Ministers of Government, including our junior Ministers for Tourism and Trade and Investment, members of the private sector and the team from BVI Airways and the press, good morning and welcome.  As a habit, as Chairman of the BVI Tourist Board, I rarely speak on a tourism matter after the Hon Premier and Minister of Tourism, after all, when he speaks our role at the Board is to move to implementation. 

At the margins of the UNFCCC COP21, where world leaders are meeting to discuss means to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, the Association of Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union (OCTA) made an important announcement. OCTA has recently joined the SIDS Lighthouse Initiative and through this new partnership, OCTA and IRENA join forces to accelerate the development and deployment of renewable energy in islands.

Ninety (90) ferry operators in the British Virgin Islands were recently presented with certificates in training for completing a workshop in customer service that was coordinated by the British Virgin Islands Tourist Board and facilitated by Aubergine Partners, LLC, an executive coaching and leadership development firm based in New York.

The Territory’s overseas investment procedures and the services provided were highlighted at the Tianjin Enterprise Go Global Forum on November 4 and 5 in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing on the Bohai Gulf .

BVI House Asia has celebrated its second anniversary in Hong Kong and Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE is pleased that the Territory remains a trusted partner in the Asia Pacific Region.

Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE, will be travelling to Hong Kong from September 19 to attend the Business BVI Second Annual Asia Conference.