The recession is behind us, times have changed and it’s time to get back to business.That will be the key message for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners Caribbean Conference which will be held at the Fairmont Southampton between May 16 and 18.The conference, which is entitled “IFC’s - Key Partners In Economic Growth” and is sponsored by Business Bermuda, will aim to follow up on the success of last year’s event in Barbados which was sold out and attracted speakers and delegates from as far afield as Australia and Singapore.“We wanted to send a clear signal to our industry that it’s time to start looking forward,” said Fredrica Butterfield, chair of the 2011 conference. “We know the value that IFCs bring to the global economic engine and it’s time that we talked about it openly.”`”The global recession that we just came through demonstrated so clearly that we are all intertwined - the domino effect of so many government and banking downturns was a eye opener and gave us all a sense of just how interconnected we all are within this global economy.”The programme for the 2011 conference will feature topics from “The Caribbean, Are We Our Own Worst Enemies?” to LATAM Estate Planning. A mix of macro and technical subjects will round out the two-day schedule which has become one of the most anticipated conferences in the trust world.The conference will explore the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development developments, the increasing mobility of the high net worth individual, the family office and all its complexities, the increasing trend to regional co-operation and the regions’ close ties to Latin and South America and what that means for trust practitioners.The line up of speakers will include Robert Mathavious, Katie Booth and Shan Warnock Smith amongst others.Returning sessions include breakouts to deal with deep technical topics and larger plenary sessions designed to encourage discussion and engagement.There will also be a number of hospitality events for networking and idea exchanges as well as the opportunity to sample some of Bermuda’s beaches and historic buildings.For more information visit the website at www.stepcaribbeanconference.com