Caribbean but will not visit Bermuda.

The overseas territories minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was in Antigua on Tuesday where she met with Montserratian Prime Minister David Brandt and then headed on to the British Virgin Islands.

Symons will travel on to the Turks and Caicos Islands today but is not expected to come to Bermuda, a Government House spokesman said.

The visits come as Caribbean finance ministers, including Bermuda's Dr. Grant Gibbons, are in London to defend their ability to attract offshore banks and holding companies.

Premier Pamela Gordon met Baroness Symons while in the UK this week -- and on previous occasions -- so the trip is not a slight to Bermuda, added the spokesman.

In the Virgin Islands, Baroness Symons will get a chance to learn what importance the country places on financial services after the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development began investigating tax breaks that make the British territories attractive to foreign bankers.