its offshore centres should make Premier Jennifer Smith's visit to London today a good deal easier.

Ms Smith and Finance Minister Eugene Cox are to hold talks with British Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials on the Island's financial status and are also due to follow up the talks with a visit to Paris to hold talks with the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Just how Bermuda needs to make its case became clearer after Baroness Symons, the junior minister responsible for Britain's overseas territories, told officials on the Cayman Islands last week that Britain does not want to do financial damage to its territories, but does want to ensure they have the highest standards of regulation.

No-one in Bermuda will argue with that. Bermuda, unlike other jurisdictions, has always made a point of being squeaky clean and has attracted business to the Island as a result. Nonetheless, the case still has to be made that the Island's low taxation rates do not constitute unfair competition.

Bermuda's Government has argued the Island is not a tax haven since it taxes its international and domestic companies in exactly the same way and has anti-money-laundering-laws on its books. Thus it offers no incentives to international companies which local companies do not enjoy as well.

It would appear that Ms Smith and Mr. Cox have already made some progress in this area at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and now need to follow up with British and OECD officials.

The more time Bermuda spends making its case known and differentiating between the Island and those jurisdictions with weaker regulatory systems the better.

It is also important that Bermuda makes it clear that the Island's financial sector does not exist to take tax money away from other countries but to offer a jurisdiction for truly international businesses which derive their income from a range of countries and use Bermuda as a base because of its sophisticated infrastructure, up-to-date regulatory system and location.

In a time when business is increasingly global and where businesses can operate from wherever there is a telephone line, the world needs reputable and well-regulated bases like Bermuda.

If Ms Smith and Mr. Cox are able to convince the British Government and the OECD of that, then they will have the international business sector on a firm setting for the future.