More than 200 people attended the launch of the Guernsey Policy & Economic Group (GPEG), a new non-profit, independent and apolitical think tank, on Tuesday night, 3rd November.
The audience drawn from business, the public sector, politicians and local residents heard from Lord Digby Jones, former UK trade minister, that GPEG had been formed to help create opportunity for all by focusing on five areas – Guernsey’s economy, infrastructure, tourism and hospitality, education and skills and sustainability.
Gill Morris, the organisation’s newly appointed Executive Director, set out how GPEG will work co-operatively and collaboratively to help build a better Guernsey by supporting the public service and politicians with ideas, research, insight and data to make informed decisions. GPEG intend to draw on local expertise to engage in their special interest groups to help the States of Guernsey find solutions specific to the issues facing the island as it moves forward after lockdown.
Jon Moulton, one of GPEG’s founder members, also spoke about how the economy of an island differs from that of larger jurisdictions with investment in local infrastructure likely to result in leakage of funds off-island and how understanding this should impact decision-making as Guernsey rebuilds its economy post-pandemic.
Gill Morris said “We are delighted with the turnout and the enthusiastic participation of our guests at our first public meeting. It was fantastic seeing different sectors of our community talking together and we hope that this starts to build a closer relationship between the community and government as we all move forward to building a better Guernsey”.
