ABIC continues to work on behalf of its members in many areas, all of which are designed to follow through with our Mission Statement which seeks to ´preserve the environment to which we came´. This involves taxes, work permits, employment legislation and all the other issues that impact upon us.

Undoubtedly the greatest challenge facing us at this time is the whole issue of Work Permits, Term Limits, lines at the airport, and all the issues related to immigration and residence. The majority of calls and queries I get from our members and their employees relate to these issues.

Not a day goes by when we do not hear of yet another story of the backlog in the processing of Work Permits, Key Employee Applications, Good Corporate Citizen Applications and the like, and Government is well aware of our concerns in this area.

My colleagues and I have been hugely encouraged by our recent meetings with the new Minister, the Hon. Derek Burgess, and on listening to the plans that he has, and observing the fact that he seems to share our frustration with the current state of affairs, we look forward to some real progress.

And progress is needed, as the current state of affairs is totally unacceptable to both international and local businesses who are being asked to conduct their business with one hand tied behind their backs due to deficiencies in both the system of dealing with applications and the burden being placed on the staff dealing with the applications, all of which leads to an unacceptable response time. You cannot have a system where the time between when you hire an employee and the time that he takes his place behind his desk is six months.

There clearly needs to be some “out of box” thinking in the way these various applications are processed and perhaps the Department of Immigration needs to take a leaf out of the Bermuda Monetary Authority´s book in the way they now approach the licensing and ongoing regulation of insurance companies.

Basically, insurance companies fall into four different classes where Class 1 can be termed the most “benign”, and Class 4 the one that carries the most exposure for Bermuda, and the way these applications are processed and the way that the companies are regulated are tailored to the various risk levels determined by these classes. Perhaps the same sort of thinking needs to be applied here.

The most pressing issue facing us, however, is Term Limits on work permits.

One cannot underestimate the impact this is having on all Bermuda business, and on the way the global business community sees us. One needs only to look at the current issue of Reinsurance Magazine where the cover reads ´Bermuda closes the door on the Class of 2007´ and inside the article on Term Limits is entitled ´Ghost Town´ and says ´will the last person to leave please switch off the lights´ – there is clearly some journalistic license involved, but this is the message that the international community sees.

Let me make clear ABIC´s position on Term Limits. ABIC continues to hold its position first expressed in 2001 that the Term Limit policy is flawed and inappropriate and does absolutely nothing to add to job protection for Bermudians.

The Term Limit policy really has nothing to do with jobs, but was designed solely to address an issue of immigration in an attempt to slow down the creation of more long-term residents. The Term Limit policy seems clear in its objective, whereby the replacement of one expatriate worker with another expatriate worker is acceptable, but what is not acceptable is the same worker staying here for an extended period of time.

That in itself is a different, and perhaps appropriate objective, but as I said earlier, this has nothing to do with job protection for Bermudians and we believe it is inappropriate to use Work Permit policy to address this issue.

The impact will be in the businesses here in terms of them not being able to deliver the quality of product they have been delivering simply because they can’t attract the brightest. An employee who comes here with a six-year tenure will begin to look for something else – not in Year Six, but in Year Two.

Then, as you go down the road, potential new entrants to the Bermuda market see what is happening with the companies that are here and it will persuade them to consider alternative domiciles.

Again, I am encouraged that in a recent meeting with the Minister we have agreed to work together to try and provide an alternative to the Term Limit policy and ABIC is making this a major priority – we have already made the first moves in that exploratory process and I will provide an update as and when we get sufficient feedback on the options available.

I must stress that this is designed to be a collaborative effort between the International Business Sector, Government and the Ministry in looking for a solution to an extremely serious issue. Bermuda’s success in this sector has much to do with a strong partnership between Government and the private sector, and we believe it is that partnership that will lead to an acceptable outcome on this issue.

So, what lies ahead for 2007?

• International Business has been challenged by the Premier to make meaningful moves in addressing the progress of Bermudians, and particularly black Bermudians into the upper ranks of the International Business sector. This is a challenge we have set ourselves ever since we conducted the detailed survey of our membership, and the task ahead of us is much of what led to the appointment of Richard Winchell as our full-time Executive Director. This will be a detailed and time-consuming exercise and will represent the main focus of our work going forward in 2007.

Also in that area, ABIC was instrumental in the establishment of the Industry Task Force for CURE (ITFC), along with Bermuda International Business Association, Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, The Chamber, The Bermuda Employers Council, and the Bermuda Hotel Association. This group has put in an enormous amount of work in providing input which will determine how the CURE legislation will look in the years ahead and has had a productive dialogue with Minister Wayne Perinchief and his staff, together with the leaders of the CURE initiative. Again, continuous dialogue in this area is essential if we are to work towards a solution which works for everyone.

ABIC is also working with the Ministry on an exciting project to revive what used to be the ICD/Ministry of Labour Employment Program, a way of giving young Bermudians who perhaps lack formal qualifications an entry into the International Business sector. Look for something on this soon.

We continue to administer the largest scholarship program on the Island – this year the ABIC Education Awards raised a record $540,000 and provided another 20 scholarships to students (each of about $30,000 for two years, and interestingly 10 women and 9 men – a huge improvement from the first year). ABIC EA has awarded scholarships totaling more than $3 million over the last eight years.

• As mentioned earlier, we will continue to work with the Immigration Department and as always we stand ready to assist in any way possible to make the process both easier and more responsive to employers in Bermuda. I am hopeful that the initiatives being taken by ABIC will lead to a solution which will allow businesses to get on with what they do best, and at the same time ensure that protection is in place for Bermudians who are ready, willing, and able to fill whatever positions are on offer.

• We will continue to work with our representative bodies on the Island, particularly our colleagues at Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, who do a tremendous job in representing International Business on external issues and they have had their work cut out in the last year addressing some major initiatives in the U.S. which could impact international companies in Bermuda.

In closing, I would urge all physical presence international companies in Bermuda to step up to the plate and join ABIC to assist us in the vital work which we do on their behalf. Recent estimates suggest that there are 450-500 international companies physically located in Bermuda, and our membership currently numbers around 180.