By ANGELA BURNS, BVI News Correspondent 20.MAR.08Business owners and residents of Cane Garden Bay turned out to a meeting at the Ivan Dawson Primary School on Wednesday evening to clear the air about reports that the annual BVI Music Fest would be moving from its usual location of Cane Garden Bay into Road Town this year.The meeting was coordinated by resident Daniel Cline and was attended by about 25 people, including Parliamentary Representative for the 2nd District, Honourable J. Alvin Christopher and Director of the BVI Tourist Board Janis Braithwaite-Edwards.The music festival, organized by Frank Mahoney and a committee of friends, including Ghana Skelton-Smith, Marjorie Smith and Cherlin Armstrong, began in 2000 and has been staged every year since then. "The objective is to bring all classes of people together in a relaxed atmosphere, with music being the uniting force," Mr. Mahoney said.He said one of the major purposes also is to give a boost to the local economy during a time of relatively slow tourism, at the end of May. Cane Garden Bay was chosen as the venue because it provided that relaxing atmosphere, it has one of the most beautiful beaches in the BVI and it catered to the boating community, he added."I think the music fest has met it objectives and then some," Mr. Mahoney said. "It has grown beyond our wildest imagination with between 8,000-10,000 local, regional and international patrons."The organizers said the music fest has generated revenue for the service industry, such as car rental agencies, hotels, restaurants, airlines and government through departure and hotel taxes. One businessman attested to the fact that his business makes up to $6,000 during the event, which is spread out over the weekend and offers daytime activities as well.Admission initially was free, but the cost of entry has gone from $5-$20 in order to offset costs.Artists have included Stephanie Mills, Roberta Flack, Freddie Jackson, Percy Sledge, The Manhattans, Regina Belle, Jonathan Butler, Jon Lucien, Morgan Heritage, Lucky Dube, Maxi Priest, Buju Banton, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs, Allison Hinds and Destra Garcia. Mr. Mahoney told the meeting that promotion has not yet started because of the difficult decision he is yet to make about the venue, but he has contacted artists such as En Vogue, Jeffrey Osborne, Arrow, Tabu Combo, David Rudder and Richie Spice, among others, to perform for 2008.In his opening remarks, Mr. Cline said the meeting was called to try and understand what is happening with the music fest this year, having heard rumours that it would be moving to Road Town. He said this is a major event for Cane Garden Bay which has benefitted the entire BVI, and they have not been hearing about any plans for 2008.Mr. Mahoney explained that funding for the event has been a major issue. He said he repeatedly requested a meeting with the Premier, but was only able to meet with the Permanent Secretary, who indicated that funding from the government would be cut by $200,000 from last year "because the budget is tight". He said he received a letter saying the committee would now only get $100,000, but he would need a minimum of $200,000 to maintain the standard that has been raised."That has been a devastating blow, making it difficult if not impossible to have the event in Cane Garden Bay," he said. "I don't understand the reason for the cost cutting, since the event generates money for the entire territory. It is not my objective to move it, but I cannot find myself in a financial hole, we can't go back to year one where we are so economically drained at the end that our phones are cut etc. The move to Road Town would give the committee control of the gate."Mr. Mahoney said money is needed to book artists and the committee only has $50,000 in reserve. Events Coordinator at the BVI Tourist Board Rhodni Skelton said government gave up to $400,000 last year towards the festival, but the question of accountability has been a problem over the years and this has to change.Mr. Cline suggested that one of the problems is the lack of a financial report from Mr. Mahoney about the proceeds, however, it was confirmed by Mr. Mahoney and Mr. Skelton that unaudited financial reports have been produced.Mr. Skelton said the committee deserves all the credit for putting on the festival, but the festival may be at the stage where "it is no longer their baby".
The meeting got a little heated with one businessman asking for a report on the cost and gross of the festival. Mr. Mahoney said it costs about $600,000 to stage the festival, but he declined to say how much money it makes."This is an interesting meeting, I came thinking we'd be working together, not as adversaries, but looking to see how to raise money to keep the event at the same level, and not thinking that Frank Mahoney is the biggest devil," he said. "It's insulting. I sit here now and listen to the antagonistic attitude towards me and I do not appreciate it."Another business person suggested that it was too late to change the venue, since guests had already booked to come for the event.Hon. Christopher used the opportunity to thank Mr. Mahoney for coming up with the idea of staging the festival, but said it is at the point where he should partner more with the community."I think there should be more discussion, and I would seek a meeting with the Premier so that we could further this discussion," he said.
Financial Secretary Neil Smith said the switch from cash accounting to accrual accounting — a system that determines revenues and expenses when a debt is incurred rather than after a payment is made — will take two years to fully adopt.
"The government is the largest business in the territory and it needs high quality financial information with which to manage itself," Smith said in a statement. "Cash accounting is simply too poor a system to deliver that quality of information."
The world's governments are increasingly adopting accrual accounting, which international accounting experts recommend to best ensure reliability, he added.
Located just west of the U.S. Virgin Islands, this sun-soaked chain is a thriving offshore financial center and enjoys one of the world's highest per-capita gross domestic products.
Richard Branson, left, Elon Musk, the co-founder of Paypal, center, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister during a recent retreat on Branson's private island in the British Virgin Islands. (Andrew Ross Sorkin/The New York Times)
Richard Branson was lounging under the starry midnight sky on this palm-dappled speck of an island recently when he popped a sobering question.
"So, do we really think the world is on fire?" Branson, the British magnate and adventurer, asked several guests, as a manservant scurried off to fetch him another glass of pinot grigio.
What he wanted to know was whether his high-powered visitors, among them Larry Page of Google, Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, thought global warming threatened the planet.
Branson does - and so did most of his guests. So on this recent weekend on his private hideaway in the crystalline waters between the islands of Tortola and Anegada, they tried to figure out what to do about it and perhaps get richer in the process.
Some of them, like Page, carbon-consciously jet-pooled in from Silicon Valley, where the financiers who bankrolled the Web boom of the 1990s have started chasing the new "New New Thing": green power. In an era of $100-plus oil, venture capitalists like Vinod Khosla, another invitee, are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into young companies that cook up biofuels and harness the power of the sun.
Blair, who is now a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase, squeezed in a few idyllic days here between assignments (he left early for Jerusalem). Another attendee only sort-of showed up. The Medusa, the 198-foot, or 60-meter, yacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, was moored off Necker Island all weekend, but Allen never came ashore.
The Caribbean getaway was the brainchild of Richard Stromback, a former professional hockey player who struck gold as a clean-technology entrepreneur. Stromback, the chief executive of Ecology Coatings, joked that a gathering like this might seem nefarious to some people.
"In James Bond movies, evil-doers meet in exotic settings to plot the destruction of the planet," Stromback said, puffing on a cigar before dinner one night. But the people here, he said, were plotting to save the planet.
So far, however, the hopes and dreams of alternative energy have far outstripped reality. But for Stromback and many of the other participants, a confluence of two powerful forces - soaring oil prices and growing concern over global warming - means the era of economically viable green power is finally at hand.
Many executives and financiers, including some in attendance at the retreat, have a lot of money riding on global warming. Branson, for example, has invested in a host of alternative energy enterprises, including existing businesses within his sprawling Virgin Group.
Khosla, the founding chief executive of Sun Microsystems and one of the most successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, has at least 33 investments in "clean tech," including new fermentation technology to make fuel-grade ethanol.
Much of the weekend was spent hashing over ideas in Branson's new open-air yoga pavilion. Talk ranged from the practicality of electric-powered cars to how much money would have to be invested in biofuels to reduce the price of crude to $35 a barrel, a prospect Khosla said was possible within the next 15 years.
But the big question that hung over the meeting was whether the nations or the world could ever work together to tackle climate change and emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
"We have an agreement that there should be an agreement," said Blair, who was dressed in a white polo shirt, blue cargo shorts and sneakers. "But there's no agreement on what that agreement should be."
Blair predicted that the United States would soon adopt a so-called cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, as the European Union has done with mixed success. "I'm a little skeptical that it will work unless it's part of a global deal," he added.
As an alternative, Shai Agassi, the former president of SAP's product and technology group, suggested having companies buy carbon insurance. Insurance companies, after all, price all kinds of risks. "They know how to put a price on it better than the bookies," said Agassi, whose start-up, Better PLC of Palo Alto, California, has been trying to create the infrastructure to operate a countrywide fleet of electric vehicles in Israel.
Everyone, it seemed, had some project in the works. Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal, talked about his latest project, Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley company that makes sexy electric sports cars retailing for $100,000. Page has ordered one.
D. Hunt Ramsbottom, chief executive of the synthetic fuel technology company Rentech, talked about his plans to make biofuels for airplanes. William McDonough, the designer, showed off pictures of some of his latest projects: a building in Abu Dhabi with solar panels built into the windows, and a Wal-Mart distribution center with an energy-friendly grass roof.
And Page, who got married on Necker Island a few months ago, talked about problems that Google had faced in trying get permits to use solar energy.
There was plenty of time for fun and games, of course. After lunch one afternoon, Branson suggested that the entire gang sail off to Mosquito, a nearby island he also owns, aboard a dozen catamarans. He said there was a party over there.
Page, an avid kite surfer, struck out alone. One of Blair's security personal trailed behind in a motorboat. As the catamarans beached up on Mosquito, music was blaring and bikini-clad women were dancing. Branson deadpanned, "Normally the girls would be naked, but the prime minister is here."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/20/business/deal.php
BVI News Online 09.MAR.08For the fifth year in a row, artisans from through out the Caribbean have converged on the BVI for the March 7-12 Caribbean Arts and Crafts Festival organized by the Caribbean Artisan Network and the local chamber of commerce. Over 50 artisans throughout the Caribbean are participating in the five-day event.
The festival opened on Friday, March 7 in Trellis Bay with a welcome celebration. The special feature of this event is the Festival's movement around the BVI. After the first three days in Trellis Bay, the artisans will move to Virgin Gorda and the last day will be in Road Town.
This year the festival village in Trellis Bay will be again expanding the program to include day and night time entertainment. The village will come alive with a vibrant mix of musical entertainment; the stage will be humming with the best local and regional musicians. Fungi, Zouk, Steel pan, Reggae and Salsa sounds will energize the artisans and entertain the crowds.
The Caribbean Artisan Network is a five year old regional organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Caribbean Arts and crafts (www.caribbeanartisan.net). By creating links between artisans, the network functions to strengthen the production of traditional and innovative Caribbean Crafts, through educational workshops, marketing initiatives and skill preservation efforts.
The Artisan Network is dedicated to increasing the commercial viability of Craft as an income generator and as a crucial aspect of maintaining Caribbean cultural identity.
For further information on this year's Caribbean Arts and Crafts Festival please contact: us:caribbeanartisan@gmail.com or Aragorn Dick-Read dreadeye@surfbvi.com
BVI enters list of global financial centres; stability noted
BVI Financial Services Commission 07.MAR.08
The British Virgin Islands’ status as a leading international financial centre has been confirmed by the BVI’s inclusion for the first time in the Global Financial Centres Index published by the City of London. The BVI entered the list of top centres in 27th place among 69 leading international finance centres. The index is based on nearly 19,000 assessments from business professionals worldwide.Respondents also placed the BVI among the world’s most stable finance centres, just behind jurisdictions such as Zurich, Hong Kong and the Isle of Man. This combines an assessment on the one hand of sensitivity to changes in people, the business environment, market access, infrastructure and general competitiveness, and on the other of consistency between different respondents’ views of a centre. The report states that the regulatory environment is one of the most important competitiveness factors for a financial centre, along with access to highly-skilled personnel.Robert Mathavious, MD/CEO of the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission welcomed the index. “It is good to have the BVI’s status as a leading global finance centre confirmed by practitioners from across the world,” he said. “In the BVI, we firmly believe that good regulation enhances reputation. To protect our integrity and reputation as a well-regulated international finance centre, the BVI has adapted to the changing global environment and taken the necessary measures to deter and confront financial crime. Our approach meets international standards without damaging the competitiveness of the BVI financial services industry. “A prime example of the FSC’s commitment to international cooperation and transparency is the extensive handbook we have published on international cooperation and information exchange as a guide for law enforcement officials and regulators. The handbook explains in detail the statutory mandates and regulations established in the BVI to foster and improve international cooperation.”“We further enhanced our regulatory regime last month by publishing new anti-money laundering legislation setting out procedures for identification, recording and reporting of transactions, and by publishing a detailed anti-money laundering and terrorist financing code of practice. The code will assist practitioners by serving as a practical tool for compliance with standards on anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing. The aim is to ensure a climate of compliance that meets international obligations.” “The BVI’s robust international cooperation framework is one reason why the UK’s National Audit Office confirmed only last November that the BVI had successfully responded to demands from the OECD and EU without driving business elsewhere.”