Former Hong Kong Governor Lord Patten will be among the guest speakers at the Bermuda-organised World Insurance Forum (WIF) in Dubai next week.

Organisers confirmed last night that the former British Cabinet Minister will speak to more than 350 delegates from 33 countries at the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Lord Patten is one of 52 speakers, featuring many world insurance industry leaders, many of them from Bermuda, including chief executive officers Brian O'Hara of XL Capital, John Charman of Axis Capital, Stephen Catlin of Catlin Group and Neill Currie of RenaissanceRe.

Between 50 and 60 delegates will travel from Bermuda to attend the Forum, which was first held in 1993 and has never before been staged away from the Island.

Lord Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in 1992 and oversaw the handover of the territory from Britain to China in 1997.

Chris Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992. In 1983 he wrote "The Tory Case", a study of Conservatism.

He also served the British government as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office and later as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science.

Also on his resume are stints as Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, membership of the Privy Council and as Secretary of State for the Environment. In November 1990 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative Party.

In September 1999 he was appointed European Commissioner for External Relations, a post he held until November 2004. On leaving office in Brussels he was made a life peer and took his seat in the House of Lords in January 2005.