The Bermuda National Trust hosted the first day of the Caribbean Conference of National Trusts at the World Heritage Centre in St George's yesterday.

John Rankin, the Governor and patron of the Bermuda National Trust, opened the ceremony to embrace the theme of the conference Arms Wide Open — Strategies for Engaging with Diverse Communities.

Mr Rankin said: “It is through engagement with the whole community with all its ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, gender and age diversity that the work of the National Trust can be best understood in the communities in which they operate.”

Diallo Rabain, the Minister of Education, took the opportunity to celebrate government plans to ban single use plastic.

“We all have a part to play in reducing the risk that this does pose to our climate, oceans and work to remain healthy and productive.”

The conference will include breakout sessions on the environment, built heritage, diversity and inclusion, education and engagement, and capacity building.

Sessions will take place at the Fairmont Southampton, with some off-site slots at locations including the National Museum of Bermuda in the Royal Naval Dockyard.

International speakers include: Dana Firas, Her Royal Highness Princess of Jordan; Dame Fiona Reynolds, president of the International National Trusts Organisation; and Gus Casely-Hayford, British curator, historian and film-maker.