Isle of Man Plans Private Sector Liaison Committee In Bid To Become E-Commerce Centre

Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

03 November 2000

Tim Craine, the Isle of Man's recently appointed e-commerce director, has announced plans to establish a private sector liaison committee as part of a programme to promote the Island's e-commerce activities. The liaison committee is the first major initiative proposed by Mr Craine in his new role.

As the Isle of Man's first "e-envoy", Mr Craine must feel under pressure to perform well and fulfill his remit to establish the island as a major e-commerce centre. But it is so far so good as the proposal was warmly received by the Manx Chamber of Commerce's IT Committee after a recent meeting to discuss e-commerce issues surrounding government and business co-operation in the rapidly expanding business sector.

After the meeting, committee chairman Paul Jarvis said: 'The chamber ... believes that, given that government supports the e-commerce proposals put forward by Mr Craine as a result of his work over the forthcoming months, new complementary business will be attracted to the Island.'

Mr Jarvis explained that the chamber thought of Mr Craine’s role as vital in securing the regulation, infrastructure and resources necessary to enable e-commerce to thrive on the Isle of Man. He commented: 'We welcome the appointment of Tim Craine as e-commerce director and the proposal to set up the private sector liaison committee to progress and enhance the Island’s e-commerce stature.'

In his address to the committee Mr Craine revealed his plan to produce an e-commerce strategy paper by the end of the year. He also aims to raise the Island’s profile as an e-commerce aware business environment by developing better marketing material and attending and speaking at forthcoming seminars and conferences.

In addition to Mr Craine's efforts, an Isle of Man Roadshow has just completed a tour of presentations in the United States in the attempt to promote the Manx plans for future e-commerce. As part of the presentations which took place in New York and Boston, John Butler, Manx Telecom's international business development manager, told audiences: 'eIOM provides a complete integrated e-commerce solution for companies that are looking to establish an e-business in the Isle of Man.'

Mr Butler, who is responsible for developing new off-Island business, explained: 'All of my work is aimed at identifying new prospective inward investors to the Isle of Man.' He said the Isle of Man is an ideal location to become a major offshore e-commerce jurisdiction within Europe and that a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure was the key to this objective.

When asked about the response to the roadshows in the US Mr Butler said: 'Perhaps not surprisingly the Isle of Man offshore e-commerce proposition was something of a revelation to US audiences. Nonetheless it was well received and we have established some excellent contacts for potential future sources of business. The timely availability of the new ‘e-Island’ brochure (a joint venture involving Manx Telecom and the Isle of Man government) was particularly important in helping to get our message across.'

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