Bermuda participants at the prestigious Risk and Insurance Management Society's annual conference gave a Government delegation the thumbs up for their participation and support in the week-long event.

Much of that praise went to Premier Alex Scott and Finance Minister Paula Cox for their support of the RIMS event, which took place in San Diego this week.

Government capped off their participation ? which had seen Mr. Scott, Ms Cox and others in their delegation take an hour long walk around the RIMS exhibit hall on Tuesday, to make courtesy calls on the Bermuda booth, Island companies and even to say hello to those from rival markets ? with their presence at a special Bermuda panel discussion yesterday morning.

The morning session, which was called 'Bermuda: The World's Risk Capital', was moderated by Aon (Bermuda) chairman Paul Markey and included remarks on the state of the industry from well-known Bermuda senior executives Brian Duperreault (ACE and Bob Cooney (Max Re), as well as the opinions of the Bermuda market by a long-time risk manger doing business in the market, Dennis Bennice, president of Risk Management Services, Inc. (Dana Corporation).

Mr. Scott and other Government representatives ? including Ms Cox, Financial Secretary Donald Scott, Assistant Financial Secretary Wayne Brown, and Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater ? took front row seats for the two-hour presentation.

Their involvement was given the thumbs up from those attending from Bermuda's insurance sector.

Roger Gillett, chairman of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) insurance marketing committee, said it was the greatest involvement of Government in the event that he had seen in his many years of involvement.

IAC RIMS sub-committee chairman Allison Towlson, who led organisation of yesterday's Bermuda session, echoed those sentiments, saying this was the most involved Government they had seen.

Mr. Scott left San Diego for Bermuda last evening, but will only be on the Island a short time before making another trip at the end of the month to both New York and Washington.

During a walkabout of the RIMS exhibit hall on Tuesday, while chatting with RIMS president Lance Ewing who joined in for the tour, Mr. Scott said that his Government saw an important part of their job to be going out and telling people what Bermuda is about.

"It seems like really we are travelling too much, but we want to get to be known," he remarked.

On April 27, Mr. Scott will go to Washington with Finance Minister Paula Cox to meet with US legislators in a lobbying effort to ensure that decision makers on Capitol Hill are aware of what Bermuda has to offer as a business jurisdiction.

They will be joined in those meetings by longtime Government lobbyist Ken Levine, although details of the meetings were not available as the schedule is still being confirmed.

It was said however that Mr. Scott and Ms Cox would be meeting with a number of key legislators in one-on-one and group sessions.

The New York trip is also for meetings, but who was being met with was not specified.