The European Commission has adopted its proposals for the signature and provisional application, as well as for the conclusion of an agreement in respect of Gibraltar between the European Union and the United Kingdom. 

The meetings focused on ensuring the WTCA Network was in the strongest possible position to leverage opportunities in emerging sectors, cross border trading and in the tech space.

]]> https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-at-wtca-board-meeting-in-istanbul/feed/ 0 https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-at-wtca-sofia-regional-meeting/ https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-at-wtca-sofia-regional-meeting/#respond Fri, 27 Jun 2025 06:41:43 +0000 https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/?p=2337 WTC Gibraltar attended the WTCA European Regional Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, this month hosted by the WTCA Members, within Sofia.

The event gathered over 30 representatives from 15 countries to progress plans of AI integration in trade, real estate and regional economic integration as a whole.

The ERM also featured a tour of the Sofia Tech Park and marked the 130^th anniversary of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The event brought together WTC representation from over 50 counties, with over 500 B2B meetings taking place across the event.

There was significant focus o navigating global trade, with keynotes from Angela Ellard, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as key stakeholders from the International Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The event concluded coining a phrase within the WTCA network of “Keep Calm and Trade On”!

The event brought together 80 WTCs from 26 countries and focused on “Pioneering the Global Network”, exploring pathways for innovation, opportunity, networking, empowerment, excellence and resilience.

Significant focus was also on AI in global trade and its transformative potential for businesses within the WTCA network.

Participants engaged in thought-provoking discussions, explored cutting-edge innovations and forged valuable connections; with additional meetings of the WTCA Francophone Initiative, Nordic and German WTC businesses and WTC Netherlands Alliance all gathering and sharing mutually beneficial trade strategies amongst the wider group.

The event also featured a WTCA Open Investor Day, exploring how to “Unlock the WTC Potential”.

The event was opened by Chairman of CCPIT Mr. Ren Hongbin, with keynote addresses from Chinese Vice President H.E. Han Zheng and Mme. Dilma Rousseff, President of New Development Bank (and President of Brazil 2011-2016).

Within the two-day visit, WTC Gibraltar met with the developers of Beijing World Trade Center as well as holding a round table with key guests from the CCPIT Summit, to explore ways in which to enhance global trade within the WTCA network.

]]> https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-represents-wtca-at-ccpit-summit-in-beijing/feed/ 0 https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-attends-wtca-board-meeting-in-bengaluru/ https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/wtc-gibraltar-attends-wtca-board-meeting-in-bengaluru/#respond Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:26:44 +0000 https://www.worldtradecenter.gi/?p=2299 Through its representation on the Board of Directors of the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), WTC Gibraltar attended a WTCA Board Meeting in Bengaluru, India this month, prior to the annual Global Business Forum (GBF) at WTC Bengaluru.

The GBF focused on “Empowering Progress Through Innovation & Collaboration” and featured keynotes from Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri. D.K. Shivakumar, who emphasised Bengaluru’s role in technology growth.

The event brought together nearly 300 leaders from 36 countries to foster trade and local partnerships in sectors including AI, sustainability and other emerging technologies.

World Trade Center Gibraltar and a small team of partners have now completed a successful daring covert operation, code named ‘Operation Magic Carpet’ to evacuate 92 individuals, including 33 children and new-born babies from escalating and imminent danger in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Among the evacuees are 60 former staff members and their dependents of the international arm of the animal welfare charity “Mayhew London” (for which Megan Markle is a Patron) former NATO and MoD liaisons and a team of veterinarians, with their respective families.

The humanitarian operation, the largest privately funded humanitarian evacuation mission undertaken since the American led withdrawal at the end of August was conducted by an experienced extraction team in an increasingly hostile environment, with a rapidly closing window, amidst eye-witness reports of raids of properties and neighbourhoods in the immediate vicinity to these individuals.

Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, on 15th August, the entire world watched as the frenzied non-combatant evacuation operation ensued from Hamid Karzai International Airport. It was clear that despite the heroic efforts of Allied forces resulting in nearly 120,000 people being evacuated within this timescale, many vulnerable individuals were left behind at risk of acts of retribution by uncontrolled terror groups.

British based animal welfare campaigner Dominic Dyer, internationally recognised for his work in evacuating Pen Farthing and his Nowzad employees and animals from Kabul in August played a leading role in the rescue operation working alongside a British vet and a Jerusalem based translator.

Businessman and owner of World Trade Center Gibraltar, Gregory Butcher, also generously helped finance part of the operation along with several individuals from Britain and the United States.

The complex and dangerous evacuation took over 2 months to complete, during a period which has seen Afghanistan spiral into escalating violence and economic collapse. The growing threat of widespread famine, made all the more desperate by the approach of winter, puts the survival of millions of Afghan citizens at risk according to UN reports.
As of 8th December, all 92 evacuees have safely arrived in accommodation in Islamabad, Pakistan. The sense of relief, sadness and uncertainty will no doubt be overwhelming for this group, as they now embark on a new life outside of their home country, having left everything but a few belongings behind.

Speaking about the successful completion of Operation Magic Carpet, Dominic Dyer said:
“It has been immensely tough for all concerned, but these are the lucky ones, people for whom there is, at least, the chance of a better future. The rout of US, UK, and other forces from Kabul, leaving almost the entire country in the hands of the Taliban, means the prospect for millions is bleak indeed. Operation Magic Carpet could not help everyone, but this extraordinary band of committed individuals have done what they can for the Kabul 92. Every life is precious, and I will now be asking Britain and other nations to open their doors to these talented individuals who are looking for a safe place to call home.”

Whilst the initial phase is complete, the time to redouble efforts begins now, and a public fundraising campaign will soon be established to help to provide food and accommodation to the 92 adults and children in Pakistan for the necessary timeframe in which onward travel documentation to third countries, such as the UK, USA and other European destinations and also their respective accommodation in those countries, is secured.

Gregory Butcher, owner of the World Trade Center Gibraltar and part-funder of the rescue said:

“Operation Magic Carpet is a miraculous coming together of volunteers in a time of need. Almost everyone will have seen the harrowing photos of the humanitarian disaster that is increasing in its intensity, with uncontrolled terror groups conducting retribution killings more frequently by the day. I learnt of an Afghan Colonel who had worked with Coalition Forces, including Canadian, British and US representatives, having attended a NATO conference in Brussels and an Afghan team leader of a major British sub-contractor security firm, based in Kabul. They were all at risk of retribution at the hands of the Taliban and needed to be rescued as well. At World Trade Center Gibraltar, we believe that large corporations have a specific role to play in society, one of humanitarian action, sustainable development, and corporate social responsibility. These principles and values guide us in our daily lives and throughout all our business endeavours. We are partners and friends and seek to support marginalized communities, non-profits and charitable groups that align with our mission. When we learned of the developing crisis in Afghanistan and heard that others were trying to find a way to get those individuals out, some of whom were female and therefore at considerable risk in Kabul, we could not turn away the chance of helping. They and their children were desperate to leave and were without any hope of doing so, so we teamed up with those other kind people to try and get a total of 92 people out of Afghanistan. I am so glad we worked tirelessly to achieve this. It really is a life and death situation, with the international community now calling on the Taliban to enforce an amnesty for former Afghan security personnel. We have just read that human rights groups cite scores of ex-soldiers have been rounded up and then executed since mid-August. The retribution has started, and we owe it to those who supported the Coalition to save them. On the arrival of the 92 in Pakistan, it’s been hard thinking what might have happened to them had we all not intervened. Their new lives and future are filled with uncertainty, and now we need to urgently get these brave now-stateless English-speaking people into a refugee resettlement program. Can you help us?”

World Trade Center Gibraltar is working to raise funds and offer vital help to those whose lives have been shattered by conflict and disaster, as they commence a new chapter in their lives.  Donations are still sought via the Operation Magic Carpet page on the GoFundMe website: https://gofund.me/a8655716

On 15th February 2017, the brand-new lobby of World Trade Center Gibraltar was packed full to celebrate the formal opening of the building. Within just one month of this ceremony, the building was 98.5% occupied, with nearly 48% of those occupants being new investors to Gibraltar. Five years on and despite a global pandemic, the building is 100% occupied this February.

The World Trade Center is home to a wide array of exciting businesses, ranging from established gaming companies with leading global brands and reputations to fast growth start-ups and trailblazers to the new industries that Gibraltar is welcoming. Many start-ups have made use of the high-quality co-working space and serviced offices provided by Regus over these five years, and several companies have successfully developed new business relationships with other building occupants, reaffirming one of the fundamental benefits of a World Trade Center and its active encouragement of networking and social circulation spaces within the building.

World Trade Center Gibraltar has also delivered significant benefits to the local community, generating an annual sum of £65,000,000 to the Gibraltar economy, as outlined in an expert study, conducted by Nairne Limited in October 2017. In a visit to Gibraltar from New York, the CEO of the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) commented on the Gibraltar World Trade Center being a leading influence in the global network of 321 World Trade Centers, throughout over 90 countries and across 72 capital cities. World Trade Center Gibraltar was further recognised in this regard by becoming a board member of the WTCA, in September 2021 – giving Gibraltar an influential voice at the table of a globally recognised and renowned association.

The building has become a hub for several events focused on various subjects from emerging sectors to regulatory frameworks, to gender equality to coding, even to yoga sessions in the building’s landscaped atrium! These events have offered opportunities not only to our building occupants, but also to other Gibraltar businesses or individuals looking to find ways in which to embrace both business and personal growth.

Throughout these first 5 years, World Trade Center Gibraltar has been involved in raising £152,590 for several charitable causes including GBC Open Day, the Duke of Edinburgh Charity and GibSams, locally. In doing so, the World Trade Center has fielded teams in several sporting initiatives, from golf to paddle to beach volleyball, all in the name of charity. Internationally, at the end of 2021, World Trade Center Gibraltar was involved in funding Operation Magic Carpet, a humanitarian rescue of 92 people from Kabul, in Afghanistan. This project touched the heart of many in Gibraltar and at the start of February 2022, 14 of the 92 Afghan nationals have travelled to France under a French government asylum scheme, but 78 remain in rental accommodation in Islamabad, Pakistan. Most of those remaining are women and young children – donations are still sought via the Operation Magic Carpet page on the GoFundMe website (https://gofund.me/a8655716).

Gregory Butcher, Chairman of World Trade Center Gibraltar, outlined “But this is just the start! As we mark our 5th Birthday, we thank all our partners that work with us day to day to make World Trade Center the hive of activity that it is. We’re excited for what the next 5 years will bring and what the World Trade Center can continue to contribute towards Gibraltar’s economic growth and for jobs and investment in our community. Beyond its 5^th Birthday, the World Trade Center is particularly focused on expanding and enhancing futuristic tech centre workspace which is not provided in Gibraltar yet but is desperately required by hi-tech, fast growth business sectors that are interested in operating from Gibraltar.”

For any enquiries or further information please contact Mariela Gancheva at mariela@worldtradecenter.gi