Premier Alex Scott arrived in Hawaii on Friday to attend the Bank of Bermuda?s annual pre-RIMS week-end. The event held this year on the island of Lanai was an opportunity to meet with bank officials and others that are in the insurance sector or provide services to it.

Mr. Scott said he was pleased to attend the bank?s event, including offering praise of the bank?s community support including a recent donation to help build homes for seniors.

Mr. Scott, who is accompanied on the trip by his wife, moved to Oahu on Sunday to attend the annual Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. conference which is being held in the island?s main city, Honolulu. The conference is something the Premier and other Government and regulatory delegates attend every year in support of the Bermuda insurance market.

?For us it is a must,? he said of attending the event. ?The last two years I really felt the presence and the scope by seeing our corporate partners here.?

Mr. Scott, a supporter of public-private partnerships, on Tuesday made his traditional annual walkabout of the conference exhibit hall.

This marks his third year of keeping a tradition that dates back to the early 1980s when former Premier Sir John Swan made the first official walkabout of the conference exhibits.

Mr. Scott was joined on his tour of the exhibit hall by Finance Minister Paula Cox and others from Government, with the group being accorded near-celebrity status.

As in years past, the Bermuda booth is commanding with a replica of Hamilton?s City Hall tower, and dozens of Bermuda volunteers wearing traditional Bermuda shorts garb on hand to tell those interested about the Bermuda market.

Bermuda?s name is also being spread far and wide with RIMS delegates lining up to get one of the coral bags that advertise Bermuda as ?the world?s risk capital?.

?Bermuda has a very definite presence. Our tower dominates, and our bags proliferate,? Mr. Scott said.

When Bermuda first began participating in RIMS years ago, the booth was outfitted with a Bermuda cottage but after the waiving of height restrictions for conference exhibitors, a replica of the Hamilton City Hall clock tower was commissioned and unveiled at the 2000 RIMS in San Francisco.

Now it has become the hallmark of the Bermuda booth at RIMS, with Island being one of more than 350 organisations and countries exhibiting at RIMS this year.

?When we walk the floor we literally meet and greet with our many partners,? said Mr. Scott, who has been accompanied by Finance Minister Paula Cox each year he has made the circuit.

The Premier?s delegation ? including Bermuda Monetary chairman Cheryl-Ann Lister, Supervisor of Insurance Jeremy Cox, Financial Secretary Donald Scott and Assistant Financial Secretary Wayne Brown ? made their last stop at the Bermuda booth following numerous courtesy calls at the stalls of Island-based companies as well as rival insurance domiciles.

Visits were made to the booths of Bermuda-based captive manager Quest, the Bank of Butterfield, the Bank of Bermuda, Barbados, the Caymans, and conversation with officials from the Lloyd?s of London booth.

The group also stopped off to greet those at the booths of Axis capital, ACE and XL?s US operations.

And the Premier made time to talk about opportunities for Bermudians wanting to study for a career in insurance with officials from the St. John?s School of Risk Management in New York.

?We want to convey home to Bermuda that Bermudians are stakeholders in a global industry,? said Mr. Scott.

The Island?s insurance sector currently employs some 4,200 people, and more than half of those are Bermudians, and 40 percent of the management positions are held by locals.

Ms Cox is herself an insurance executive as a counsel for industry giant ACE Ltd.

?This is the gospel that we will be bringing home to Bermuda; that these are our partners,? said Mr. Scott.

The Premier also hosted a gala Bermuda reception for industry executives close to the Island last night at Honolulu?s oldest hotel, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider.

?Really we are introducing Bermuda to new, potential clients. That is why I and the Minister are really here.?