A small piece of Chinese business would be huge for Guernsey

ATTRACTING just a small amount of available business from China would be a huge boost for Guernsey's economy, the Commerce and Employment minister has said following a trip to the country.

Kevin Stewart, who returned to the island on Saturday along with Chief Minister Peter Harwood and representatives from Guernsey Finance and the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, has encouraged local businesses to promote themselves in the Far East.

'They asked how Guernsey is different to the Cayman Islands or BVI – we assume everyone knows Guernsey, but why would they? Historically, they've done a lot of business with the BVI and Caymans because they have put a lot of investment into China,' he said.

'Although we've been engaging for the last seven or eight years, in my view we really need to step up our engagement – we don't need to attract a huge amount of Chinese business to make a very big difference to our economy.'