In final days of 2009 we all witnessed a gorgeous Gibraltarian crowned Miss World, a massive achievement for a country with a population of just 30,000! Congratulations Kaiane Aldorino, you have done us all very, very proud. The International recognition of this highly deserved win is virtually priceless. Today many of us use “Google Alerts” to keep abreast of information about places, companies and “things” that happen around the World. On Saturday the 12th of December anyone with “Gibraltar” as a “Google Alert” would have seen their in-boxes filling as the online news media reported this brilliant achievement – very well done Kaiane, you have massively raised the international awareness of Gibraltar, and the column inches of press comment your win created, were phenomenal.

A milestone was achieved last December when the Spanish Ferry company Transcoma launched a new ferry service between the ports of Gibraltar and Algecirias. The new vessel “Punta Europa II” can carry up to 150 passengers, and offers three sailing per weekday and two on a Saturday. After a gap of 40 years the Chamber welcomes this new service as an additional form of travel into Gibraltar for frontier workers and tourist alike.

As Twenty Ten progresses we have seen some very positive press in the UK about Gibraltar being a less taxing place to live and work. We are all aware that our current two-tier corporate tax system becomes redundant at the end of the year, and we all been told that our new “one tax fits all” will be 10%. But at the time of writing the new legislation has still yet to be gazetted. The Chamber urges GOG to push forward with the new legislation with utmost speed, so the finance sector can understand fully the details of this crucial piece of legislation.

In this issue we have a frank interview with the new mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez. The Chamber looks forward to a new found dialogue with our closest and important of neighbours.

Over the past few months The Chamber has become increasingly worried about the ability of Gibraltar to sustain the growth we have witnessed over the past few years. As we have said earlier we have seen some very positive international press, and with our low tax jurisdiction status, Gibraltar will have a great offering, with huge opportunities, but we appear to have a crisis in the availability of office space. The reality is that there is no point in being an “attractive”jurisdiction, if we cant´ accommodate new entrants. What is even more worrying is that there is very little in the pipeline.

This issue needs to be addressed, urgently.