Speaking of his appointment, Mr Craine, who has previously chaired the group responsible for developing the government's website, enthused: 'I am looking forward to the challenge of working in conjunction with the private sector to develop and promote the necessary strategies which will keep the Island at the forefront of e-commerce developments and which will help to ensure the Island’s future prosperity.'

The Isle of Man government has announced, on its website, that £7 million will be set aside for the 'special e-commerce development fund'. In addition to this the government will introduce tax incentives - not yet unveiled - which will boost the fledgling e-commerce sector.

Mr Craine, 45, who will also be known as the island's 'e-envoy', has a good basis on which to build the Isle of Man's e-commerce strategy. He said: 'the island has already done much to take advantage of the opportunities presented by e-commerce and has already been successful in a number of areas.' Indeed, a leading IT company, with operations in the UK and US - Object Technology - has set up a sales and marketing base in the Isle of Man with the intention of providing a help-desk for technical enquiries. In the internet version of this month's Isle of Man Financial Review, Object Technology explained its reason for locating on the island, describing how its 'idyllic location ... combined with a burgeoning finance sector and new technology provided by Manx Telecom, made the Isle of Man the obvious location.'

Another IT company that has offices on the Isle of Man, PDMS Advanced Systems Group (one of three internet service providers on the island) has also praised the island's finance sector as an 'ideal' location conducive to offshore internet commerce. The features which have provided a stable foundation for e-commerce, as described on PDMS' website, include: 'a strong, stable government, corporate taxation structures and a well developed and technically advanced telecommunications infrastructure.'