US presidential candidate and Democrat Senator Barack Obama has reiterated his threat to shut down tax havens if he is elected to the White House in November.

Speaking at the Democratic Party National Convention in Denver on Thursday night, Sen. Obama set out his plans to tackle the issues facing America at these tough economic times and vowed to close corporate loopholes and tax havens standing in his way.

A Bermuda's insurance industry leader has responded to Sen. Obama's comments by pointing out the importance of the Island to the US economy and to US jobs.

Sen. Obama did not make direct reference to the Island in his speech, but Bermuda was on a list of jurisdictions taken from Internal Revenue Service court filings identified as "probable locations for US tax evasion" under the "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act" introduced by Sen. Obama, Democrat Sen. Carl Levin and Republican Sen. Norman Coleman last year.

In his speech, Sen. Obama said: "Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime, by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programmes that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less because we cannot meet 21st century challenges with a 20th century bureaucracy. "

Brad Kading, president and executive director of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, stressed the positive contribution that Bermuda was making to the US economy.

"If Senator Obama is elected president we look forward to the opportunity to work with him and his staff on issues of mutual interest," he said.

"ABIR members are net job creators in the United States. We employ more than 10,000 people in the US and our employees produce another 100,000 jobs for US service providers.

"Our members 'insource' jobs into the US, we do not export jobs from the US.

"In addition in the last seven years our members have paid more than $25 billion in claims for property catastrophe events alone.

"We make an important economic contribution to the US and we look forward to opportunities to continue to demonstrate that. Bermuda insurers are a net benefit to the US economy."

Previously Premier Ewart Brown said he did not reckon Sen. Obama's comments were directed at Bermuda or the reinsurance sector.

Finance Minister Paula Cox was unavailable for comment.

Earlier this year Sen. Levin said in his "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act": "Offshore tax haven and tax shelter abuses are undermining the integrity of our tax system, robbing the Treasury of more than $100 billion each year, and shifting the tax burden from high income persons and companies onto the backs of middle income families.

"We all know there are billions of dollars in taxes that are owed but not paid each year. It's called the tax gap. The latest estimate is $345 billion in unpaid taxes each year owed by individuals, corporations, and other organisations willing to rob 'Uncle Sam' and offload their tax burden onto the backs of honest taxpayers.

"We estimate that, of that $345 billion annual tax gap, offshore tax haven abuses account for as much as $100 billion.'