Troops from the Gibraltar Regiment will join up with the Bermuda Regiment when it visits Jamaica in March for training.

The link is in return for a spell four Bermuda Regiment soldiers had in the tiny British territory located off Spain's southern coast in September.

The two regiments also worked together in field exercises in Morocco.

Bermuda Regiment Commander Lieutenant Colonel David Gibbons said the two islands had a lot in common, including their small size and their link to Britain.

He said: "It will strengthen our relationship and train together. It's my hope we will be able to pool our resources and enhance our training."

He said the relationship had started when he had met his opposite number Lieutenant Colonel Francis Brancato in London when the Gibraltar regiment was doing a spell of guard duty at Buckingham Palace.

Lt. Col. Francis Brancato told The Royal Gazette during his five-day visit to Bermuda that he had liked what he had seen of the Bermuda Regiment during their boot camp.

He said: "I was impressed - they only had two weeks for initial training but they got a lot of work done in that time."

He said Bermuda Regiment troops could learn from the experience of his regiment which has a crucial role in guarding Gibraltar which is an important listening station for NATO as well as a busy staging post in NATO operations.

He said: "We got involved in the Falklands operation and the Gulf and Balkans. It is a strategic base."For a month we had to deploy anti aircraft batteries after the bombing of Libya in the 1980s."

Gibraltar also hit the headlines in 1988 when three IRA terrorists were gunned down by SAS troops before they had the chance to blow up troops during a march past.

The island, which covers just two and half square miles and has a population of 30,000, is served by 400 volunteer troops employed by the British Government - half of which are part-timers. Conscription was abolished in the 1970s.

Lt. Col. Francis Brancato said the link with Bermuda gave his men the chance to explore countries on this side of the Atlantic.