Garcia promotes Gibraltar's digital success at Commonwealth Business Forum, highlights vision for future growth
The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, has told a meeting of the plenary session of the Commonwealth Business Forum on Thursday that one key to new economic progress and growth is to identify the next big thing and have the vision and determination to go for it.
This was the second event to which he has contributed directly as a panellist and is one of four different meetings taking place at the same time as the Heads of Government CHOGM in Apia, Samoa, with over five hundred delegates from across the Commonwealth.
The event offers the opportunity for engagement between Governments and businesses, as well as between Ministers from different countries.
Dr Garcia, who is the Minister responsible for developing Commonwealth relations, showcased the success that Gibraltar has enjoyed in the digital sphere by identifying niche markets and developing them.
He explained how telephone gambling had evolved into online gaming which was now one of the mainstays of the economy with 77 employers and some 3600 employees.
He also explained how Gibraltar acted early to regulate the crypto-DLT space in 2018, which has now attracted ten companies to this field.
He said that, in common with many small Commonwealth countries, Gibraltar’s only resources were its land and its people and both needed to be maximised to good effect.
However, the Deputy Chief Minister said that size does not matter and that small states must engage with larger ones to find economic synergies which suit them both.
He used the two Gibraltar-India business events which have taken place in London over the last few weeks as an example.
He also told delegates that annual U.K Gibraltar trade now stood at £7.7 billion, which made Gibraltar the UK’s 34th largest trading partner, despite the Rock’s small size.
The Deputy Chief Minister praised the Digital Skills Academy as a public-private project which equips young people with the expertise they need in this dynamic new world.
He explained that the global e sports market, another niche area promoted by digital athletes, was estimated to grow to £5 billion over the next five years.
The key, he told Commonwealth delegates, was to follow Gibraltar and invest in education from primary school up to degree level which would in turn create the opportunities for young people in the future.
Dr Garcia was honoured later on to exchange a few words about Gibraltar with King Charles during the official reception.