Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) chairman Jeff Conyers yesterday said the organisation would continue a quiet behind the scenes campaign in 2003 to educate US lawmakers on Bermuda as an international business jurisdiction.

Mr. Conyers, speaking at the organisation's annual general meeting yesterday, said that would be done in tandem with implementation of a "more proactive" media outreach programme.

BIBA, which is funded in part by Government, said its outreach programme will take the form of "educational tours" to meet with international media - with participation from both BIBA executives and Government representatives - during January and February.

Mr. Conyers added that the purpose of the trips would not be to "solicit" stories so much as to educate the media.

"We can't fight the battle on the front page of The New York Times...Bermuda must continue to win battles where it can by maintaining its integrity."

But BIBA CEO Richard Calderon said what the association could do was establish itself with the media "as a resource and conduit of information for journalists in their pursuit of future stories related to Bermuda".

The organisation claimed it had, in the last year, "proactively influenced" numerous media reports from "100 percent negative stories into 50/50 or better stories in the end".

Speaking of BIBA's efforts throughout the last year, Mr. Conyers said that with the help of BIBA's US-based public relations firm "we moved behind the scenes to gather intelligence on the legislative plans in the US Congress.

"We met with key congressional staff members and shared our perspective on Bermuda, sought their feedback and related their opinions back to the Ministry of Finance," he said.

Mr. Calderon said those meetings had provided the "platform to successfully communicate Bermuda's approach to company registration and taxation, and to discuss Bermuda's reaction to the proposed legislation banning corporate inversions".

And he added that with the overwhelming Republican victory in last month's US elections could mean that the controversial corporate inversion debate - and the focus on Bermuda, as a jurisdiction attracting companies inverting their place of incorporation - could be "waning".

But Mr. Calderon concluded there continued to be areas of concern where BIBA should be "vigilant".