BVI To Open London Representative Office

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

19 June 2002

The British Virgin Islands' Ralph T. O'Neal, Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Economics and Development, announced this week that the BVI would open an office in London in order to 'promote all interests of the territory in areas such as tourism, investment and financial services'.

The office would also work to get UK Parliamentarians to know the BVI, make arrangements for when BVIslanders visit London, encourage more British Virgin Islanders to study in England and generally to be in touch with the developments in the UK and convey them back to the local government, said the announcement.

Another responsibility of the London office would be to assist with the establishment of a lobbying group for the BVI in London. “We’ve been looking at it (the establishment of this office) for some time,” said Mr O’Neal, adding that while there are firms already advising the territory on tourism promotion and financial services, it is now time to bring these agencies under one roof.

“We have to get more organized because we have to look towards Europe and the best way to do that…is to deal with Europe from the United Kingdom,” added the BVI leader, saying that the groundwork for the establishment of the office should be completed by about September/October this year.

Until now, the BVI has been represented in London by a commercial public relations agency.

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