Chamber of Commerce president Chris Allen has applauded the government’s decision to attend the Commonwealth Business Forum in London.

Mr Allen was among members of the island’s business community who also went to the event.

The business forum was held in parallel with the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Topics covered in detail included global risks and opportunities, economic growth, emerging technologies, trade links and population challenges.

Mr Allen told Business News: ‘I applaud the initiative taken by Isle of Man Government to attend this forum, we absolutely had to be there.

‘To have so many influential politicians and business leaders from across the Commonwealth in one place at the same time is an opportunity that does not present itself too often.

‘I was privileged to have been invited to attend and as Chamber’s representative at the forum I was able to support our aim to promote Isle of Man business, identify opportunities to add value for our members, and gain benefit from networking and support opportunities.

‘The Commonwealth nations openly talked about strengthening collaboration between each member country, sharing best practice and learning from each other.

‘It was quite inspiring and I came away with a number of ideas and contacts which would otherwise have been missed.’

hosted

The UK Government hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

As part of the agenda there were a number of parallel events hosted for the Commonwealth attendees – the Commonwealth Business Forum, Commonwealth People’s Forum, Commonwealth Women’s Forum, and Commonwealth Youth Forum.

Chief minister, Howard Quayle MHK, and Minister for the Department for Enterprise, Laurence Skelly MHK, attended the event along with a number of supporting delegates from Isle of Man Government and the island’s business community, including Mr Allen.

The prime interest of the delegation was to attend the Commonwealth Business Forum which took part over the first three days, comprising a range of presentations, seminars, workshops and round-table discussions hosted at three separate venues within central London, and attended by senior politicians and business representatives from the 53 Commonwealth countries.

Attendance at the Business Forum was a new Isle of Man Government initiative promoted by the chief minister.

With an uncertain economic environment as a consequence of Brexit, the aim was to seek to strengthen links with Commonwealth countries.

The forum presented a number of opportunities to network with political and business contacts from the Commonwealth, while promoting the Isle of Man and learning about opportunities and challenges to trade and economic growth.

There were numerous sessions on the agenda and Isle of Man delegates attended those that were most relevant to their background, and over the three days delegates covered all sessions to gain maximum benefit out of the trip.

The overarching theme was delivering a prosperous Commonwealth, with secondary themes that linked all sessions in the form of The Future of Trade, Building the Future and the Future of Leadership.