Minister of Finance Paula Cox will personally spearhead a new campaign of economic diplomacy with trips to Washington already planned and the prospect of a beefing up lobbying in Washington.

Bermuda is constantly under attack from the US politicians who see the Island as a drain on their dollars as companies move to the Island to avoid taxes.

The most recent flurry of attacks has come from US presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry who has spoken about cracking down of the ?creed of greed? if elected and has vowed to stop business coming to Bermuda or US government contracts going to Bermuda companies.

?In regard to economic diplomacy I think in Bermuda sometimes we hide our light under a bushel,? said Ms Cox. ?Despite all that we are doing I think there is a tremendous amount of lack of information or certainly an ignorance by those who should know better.

?And we will certainly be seeking to be much more active in terms of the road shows and working in partnership with BIBA and also the international business community and the local business community, in terms of taking our show on the road and informing people of what we are doing.?

Ms Cox said she also wants to make ?offshore? a dirty word which is not associated with Bermuda in any shape or form.

?We will certainly banish from our language, from the dialogue, we don?t talk about offshore, we talk about international financial centres and it is important for people to realise that.?

And she pointed to the US where individual states had set themselves up to rival offshore centres and cited Vermont, Hawaii, and Delaware as examples.

?So when they talk about ?creeds of greed? you should probably look at the ?creed of greed? in the local US domestic agenda ,? she said.

When asked what she would say to Senator Kerry if she came face to face with him, she revealed she would put him, politely in his place by enlightening him to the facts.

?I think it would be an interesting discussion,? she said adding that it was interesting to sit down and meet with the policy makers ? but that all they knew about Bermuda was the Bermuda Triangle.

?And they talk about all those outdated myths that really don?t have any common or popular currency in terms of the factual reality and I think sometimes people really just need to be informed.

?And I am happy to have the opportunity to sit down and share the message. Senator Kerry is sometimes the focus too much of discussion.?

But she said she understood the kind of politicking that Senator Kerry was embarking on in a bid to gain votes.

?I am a politician, so I appreciate that politicians as part of a lead up to an election will use what they think are the big exclamation points to try and make their points,? she said.?

They aren?t really interested in what is happening in Bermuda, but it resonates with their local constituents in terms of bringing dollars back and bringing home the bacon and being patriotic. But I think he strikes me as an intelligent man and I think if you are an intelligent person you listen to the facts before you make a decision.?

And she said that she was planning to go the Washington following the large insurance conference in RIMS which the Minister of Finance traditionally attends.

?But that has still to be worked out and even if, for whatever reason that is not able to be orchestrated at this time, although I expect it will, certainly the plan is that we can touch base and we can go to Washington more often and have an audience with persons who are relevant,? she said.

?We don?t rule out the opportunity of persons coming to Bermuda. Not necessary always at the direct behest or invitation of the Ministry of Finance. Bear in mind we have a number of big players who are based here who also have a vested interest and a stake in seeing that policy makers based in the US are better informed.?

When asked about boosting the lobbyist, she revealed that Government was looking at hiring another lobbyist in addition to Kenneth Levine who has acted on Government?s behalf for more than a decade now.

?We are currently considering options on whether we need to expand on this, certainly other ministries have interest in this and there are synergies,? she said. When asked if this meant hiring a new lobbyist she said: ?Yes?.