Another official bilateral visit between Bermuda and the US is already being contemplated for 2007, the US Consul General revealed on Saturday.

Gregory Slayton, who offered unprecedented access for Government?s diplomatic contingent in Washington D.C. last week, said he already talking to the US State Department and Premier Alex Scott about another trip next Spring, making it an annual event.

?The partnership between the countries is so important to both countries. It?s one of those things you can too easily take for granted unless you make it a priority, like an old friend or a marriage,? Mr. Slayton said.

?And I just think on both sides there is a growing recognition that this is a partnership that needs to be prioritised. Now certainly it?s too early to say that that?s absolutely for sure going to happen, but I can tell you definitely the discussions have already begun so that?s one small thing.?

Speaking on the possibility of having a US Coast Guard presence in Bermuda, Mr. Slayton said the details were still being worked out.

?Senator John McCain is a former naval pilot. Graduate of Annapolis, our Naval Academy and he was a frequent visitor to Bermuda,? Mr. Slayton said. ?The Premier mentioned this to him and Senator McCain caught right on because he understands the importance of the Coast Guard. I would say that discussions are very, very preliminary but there have been some initial discussions with the Coast Guard.?

The Consul General said the idea would have to make sense to Bermuda, the US and the UK.

?It may well, because obviously there are 800 miles to the coast to North Carolina.

?It is extremely expensive for us to get a fixed wing aircraft and especially a helicopter out here and it?s actually dangerous in bad weather,? Mr. Slayton said.

?So this idea may have legs, we?ll see, but again diplomacy takes time but I think we are moving in the right direction and that is the important thing.?

In the House of Assembly on Friday, Premier Scott said the Coast Guard proposal was worth considering as drugs and gangs could be just as devastating as hurricanes.

?We suggested that this would be a safer and more cost effective deployment of those resources which could then be used to patrol the Atlantic and assist with interdiction of drugs that enter our Island via yachts and other vessels,? Mr. Scott said.

He said Bermuda Regiment troops could be trained at the proposed US search and rescue station.

On the issue of the ?stop list? which prevents Bermudians with criminal records from travelling to the US, Mr. Slayton pointed out that the same rule applies to all nations ? Bermuda is not singled out.

?We don?t need to be importing felons to our country,? he said. ?If you want to maintain the right to travel don?t get involved in crime, even smoking drugs.?

Mr. Scott said he took pains to ?explain the trauma to the aspirations? of Islanders with criminal records who could not travel to the US.

Even getting a local Certificate of Rehabilitation did not lead to their names being dropped from ?stop list?, he said.

?We are hopeful that this has laid the basis for real movement on this issue,? Mr. Scott said. ?No promises were given but we did drive home this matter at some length when the opportunity to do so arose.?