Efforts to rejuvenate Bermuda’s economy are underway, and the first green shoots of progress should become visible this year.So says Economic Development Minister Dr Grant Gibbons, who has a pivotal role to fulfil in helping turn around the Island’s fortunes after four years of economic contraction.A multi-pronged approach is being taken, which aims to restore business confidence in the Island, stem job losses, and create a smoother process for new businesses and developers seeking to come to Bermuda.All in all, there is much that needs to be fixed.“We have gone from about 40,000 jobs to about 35,000 over the past five years,” said Dr Gibbons. Narrowing in on international business and related areas, including banking, legal and accounting, 700 jobs have been lost in that sector alone during the past year.“Part of what we are trying to do is stem that haemorrhaging,” he explained.Private sector expertise is being brought on-board to give advice on making Bermuda more competitive, spearheading the marketing and promotion of the Island to overseas business communities and looking at areas where new types of business might be created.Nine weeks into his Government job, Dr Gibbons has taken stock of the task ahead. A map for where the One Bermuda Alliance Government feels the Island needs to go is emerging. Sketching out part of the route, the Economic Development Minister touched on the telecoms and energy sectors and a new public-private partnership in the shape of the still-being-formed Bermuda Business Development Committee (BBDC).“What we are working to deal with is how we can get people to create jobs here, keep jobs here and perhaps even move jobs here. Part of that will come from the Immigration work permit process, part of that will also be about restoring confidence in predictability in government, getting our own finances under control and working with people to understand their needs as well,” he said.“One of things we’ve been doing a lot in the last nine weeks is meeting international business, speaking and trying to understand what their concerns are and make sure they stay and grow.”The feedback has been valuable, and is all ready being acted on. Government has jettisoned the term limits policy, while promising to vigilantly enforce work permit regulations.Dr Gibbons said term limits had a huge negative impact on the Island, crimping Bermuda’s previous success at building up a high level of ‘intellectual capital’ and knowledge base within the international business arena.“Term limits were essentially a real detriment to maintaining and protecting that intellectual capital. I include Bermudians in that intellectual capital, we have a lot of senior people here who are Bermudians in that sector, but unless you have the combination of Bermudians and non Bermudians you are not going to get that overall package which made Bermuda so successful,” said the Minister.“We felt we can protect Bermudian interests through work permits.”Creating jobs is the overarching aspiration for the OBA Government. The loss of 5,000 jobs in the past five years has taken a hefty toll across the economy.“We want to create jobs across all of the different sectors; construction, retail, hospitality. Because all of these industries are connected to a large degree and synergies between them, international business interested in more office space there is construction. If you have more people here for international business they are going to be renting and purchasing accommodation, so all these pieces work together.”Having spoken with a number of senior figures in the business community to gauge the scale of the issues that need to be tackled to make Bermuda more competitive, the Government has created a Bermuda Economic Development subcommittee of Cabinet.Explaining this, Dr Gibbons said: “That was done quickly because there were a number of development projects, some of them resort developments, which had been sitting out there.“There was a tremendous amount of frustration. We could see and understood that if Government was going to be a facilitator and move these projects to fruition very quickly we had to do it in a way where consents, permissions and agreements were done in a simultaneous or parallel way and not what appeared to happen in the past where it would possibly start in Tourism and then go to Finance and the process would have to start again with a different type of consent.”The subcommittee, which meets weekly, brings together a working group that includes the Ministries of Tourism, Public Works, Home Affairs, Finance, and Economic Development.“There are a number of projects we are working with developers on and we are hoping to use this process to get Government response going quickly and efficiently.”The Minister added: “The business development unit is looking at having a business concierge service to help facilitate the start up of new businesses here to, say, be able to work with someone who might want to set up a hedge fund here to point them in the right direction in the system with things like immigration, issues like office space and generally try to facilitate there start up of a business. To guide them and make the process easier. Other jurisdiction have similar types of services and for Bermuda to be more competitive we need to have something that works well and helps to create new business.”Currently in the process of being formed is the Bermuda Business Development Corporation (BBDC), which will cement a closer working relationship between international business and Government.It will replace the likes of Business Bermuda and work as a public-private partnership to sustain and promote business in Bermuda. Initially to be funded by Government (it is a $4.2 million Budget item this year) although it is hoped the private sector will also contribute through membership fees. The BBDC will consist of 13 members and be chaired by someone from the private sector.“The idea is to have the private sector involved to market and promote Bermuda and also to look at areas where we might be able to create new types of business as well and to make sure our legislative structure is up to date and competitive. There will be a legislative change committee which will operate within the BBDC as well. The idea being to make sure we are cutting edge with the type of legislation that we have,” said Dr Gibbons.The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers and the Association of Bermuda International Companies will be represented within the new body.It is hoped the BBDC will also act as a kind of think-tank to suggest areas of business that Bermuda might consider broadening and diversifying into.When asked what types of areas might provide good growth potential for Bermuda, Dr Gibbons pointed to the insurance-linked securities sector. He also sees potential in the fund sector.“A lot of that business has gone towards Cayman and that is a good business for us as well. We had a lot of that business, we need to understand how we can cultivate that business and get more of it here to broaden our international business offering,” he said.The Minister also believes there are business opportunities coming out of Latin America that could benefit Bermuda, and he is enthusiastic about progress underway in the telecoms sector.“We moved very quickly at the end of January to launch, fund and get the regulatory authority up and running and we are hoping through Icol (integrated communications operating licences) we will be able to get more competition, better products and better services, hopefully at lower costs .”Government is also exploring the potential of introducing liquefied natural gas as an intermediate energy solution while the Island moves towards alternatives such as solar and wind power. Although significant capital investment will be necessary, the silver lining, says Dr Gibbons, would be the arrival of capital funds to Bermuda along with the creation of jobs.Stopping the spiral of job losses on the Island is the immediate task for the Government, beyond that Dr Gibbons hopes the first green shoots of economic growth will not be far away.