REMARKS OF
US CONSUL GENERAL GREGORY W. SLAYTON

 

May 1, 2006

Good afternoon, Premier Scott, Cabinet Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. 

For over two hundred years, Bermuda and the United States have shared a strong and mutually beneficial partnership that is not only long-standing but also multifaceted: business; insurance and tourism; cultural and education exchanges; and medical services are just a few of its pillars. The United States supplies Bermuda with approximately 80% of its imports, nearly $766 million in goods in 2004. The value of US exports to Bermuda is 27 times that of the United Kingdom.

And US citizens make up about 85% of the island’s tourists.  Some 204,000 US airline passengers visited Bermuda in 2005 and tens of thousands more came via cruise ships. The US sends approximately 10 times more air visitors to Bermuda than the Brits. In fact, US tourists contributed hundreds of millions to Bermuda’s economy annually.

But this important partnership is very much a two way street.  While the US is shipping goods and sending tourists to Bermuda, America has become the major beneficiary of Bermuda’s thriving international insurance industry. After a record-breaking 2005 hurricane season, Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers expect to pay nearly 26% of the insured losses arising from the devastation caused by hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. In fact, Bermuda carriers will pay out to their US clients at least $13 billion for rebuilding in the hurricane zones - as much if not more than their better-known European counterparts. And all of this money is going to assist the rebuilding of the devastated US Gulf and Florida coasts.

Because of our shared history, I am honored to be here today to announce an historic achievement.  For the first time in diplomatic memory, the United States’ Chief of Mission in Bermuda will escort a delegation from the Government of Bermuda to Washington, DC to meet with key decision-makers in the United States. 

It has been my great privilege to organize this first Official Bilateral Visit, scheduled for May 17 and 18, 2006, which will provide Bermudian lawmakers with a never-before-realized entrée to leaders in the American government. 

Accompanying me on this landmark visit will be the Honorable Premier of Bermuda, Mr. Alex Scott, and the following Cabinet members:

·        Minister of Finance Paula Cox and

·        Minister of Labor, Home Affairs & Public Safety Randolph Horton.

Also traveling with the team will be the following Bermuda government officials:

·        Mr. Donald Scott, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance;

·        Mr. Robert Horton, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labor, Home Affairs & Public Safety;

·        Mr. John Drinkwater, Secretary to the Cabinet, and

·        Ms. Beverle Lottimore, Director of Communications and Information. 

Foremost on the agenda are breakfast and conferences at the White House, and meetings at the State Department, where Bermuda delegates will convene with senior officials.

Meetings have also been scheduled on Capitol Hill, where Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Representative Dennis Hastert – third in line for presidential succession – will host a Diplomatic Reception with other leaders of the House of Representatives.  On the Senate side, Senate Leader Bill Frist, has kindly agreed to a private meeting with the Bermuda Delegation. 

Other private meetings on the Hill have been planned with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including:

·        Senator Norm Coleman

·        Senator Mel Martinez

·        Senator George Allen

Private meetings have also been confirmed with other top leaders:

·        Senator John McCain, one of America’s best-known Senators

·        Senator Susan Collins, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

·        Senator Sam Brownback, member of the Committee on Appropriations and the Joint Economics Committee

·        The Congressional Black Caucus, including Congressman G.K. Butterfield, whose father emigrated to the United States from Bermuda in 1905 and fought for the US in World War I.

Finally, to round it all off, the delegation’s schedule will include high-level meetings at the: 

·        US Department of Commerce

·        US Department of the Treasury

·        National Security Council

·        World Bank

This is an historic opportunity for Bermuda’s government to build rapport with Washington principals.  And, as you can tell from the list of scheduled meetings, the Premier and his team will have unprecedented access to many of the principal leaders in American government.  It is an extraordinary agenda and I am gratified that I have been able to draw on my relationship with these public figures on behalf of Bermuda.  

In my experience, the value of friendship is incalculable; there is no better time to establish an alliance with friends than before one is required to call upon them. 

The alliance between our two countries is over two hundred years old, but strengthening the ties that bind us is a continuous process.  Like a marriage, it requires constant communication, mutual commitment and lots of good will.

That is why I place public diplomacy in the forefront of my priorities as Chief of Mission of the US Consulate in Bermuda.  I am very happy to be able to do my part in fostering relations with and strengthening lines of communication between our two countries. 

There is no doubt that constructive and positive dialogue is the most effective tool in the diplomatic arsenal.  And that is what this bilateral visit is all about.