Bermuda took centre stage for the third meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes this week under the watchful eyes of the rest of the world.The Island played host to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) annual flagship event at the Fairmont Southampton yesterday and today with around 250 delegates from all corners of the globe descending upon its shores to discuss tax information exchange and transparency issues and produce peer review reports on the implementation of a new standard.Among the most keenly-awaited of the reports will be the US, whose states of Delaware and Nevada have been labelled by some as screcey jurisdictions, and Switzerland, whose banking secrecy rules have come under fire in recent landmark cases such as UBS being forced to hand over US client data to the American government. Both countries’ reports are due to be released this morning.The spotlight will also shine on the activities of offshore financial centres such as Bermuda and the Caribbean islands.The main event was preceeded by the Steering Committee meeting on Monday with Premier Paula Cox giving a taste of what was to come at a joint press conference with Global Forum chair Mike Rawstron and head of the Global Forum Secretariat Pascal Saint-Amans.The mood of the conference was upbeat with the Premier stressing the importance of the forum and Bermuda’s selection as vice-chair and her OECD counterparts commending the Island for the progress it had made in meeting the global standard.Having fielded a tricky question about the constitution of Bermuda’s own tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs), she moved on briskly to her next engagement.Starting in earnest yesterday, the event was in full swing an hour before the opening ceremony kicked-off with delegates from almost every country you could think of mixing with one another in the foyer.As they took their places the cameras panned around the room and focused in on the Premier who duly took to the podium and delivered a rousing speech about the work of the OECD and the inclusion of all member nations in the process.Her ice-breaker about debunking the myth of the Bermuda Triangle out of the way, she moved on to address the more serious matters at hand and the challenges facing the group in the years ahead.She told attendees that the Global Forum was pivotal and set the “standards and rules of engagement” as outlined in the 2011 OECD Ministerial Council Meetings where the ministers endorsed the framework for its strategy for development to achieve higher, more inclusive and sustainable growth for the most countries.Ms Cox said the focus for the two-day event would be knowledge sharing on both policy successes and failures, learning and developing partnerships between the organisation and developing countries willing to participate.“The fact that we are here and that Bermuda is the host and a vice-chair of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes tells us something important about the shifting geo-political landscape,” she said.“Size does not matter. Influence is not limited to those who have large economies, extensive land mass and significant resources.“This Global Forum can serve as a powerful tool for democratic and inclusive change.“This is a moment of opportunity for the members of the OECD Global Forum. We must seize the opportunity and rise to the challenge.“By shifting power to the right levels, we will increase democratic accountability and transparency and foster the environment for a level playing field.”Highlighting the Convention on Multilateral Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which was put forward by the Group of 20 (G2) finance ministers and central bank governors in February, the Premier said that while the bilateral agreements may be attractive to developing nations due to their cost effectiveness, the challenges faced by each jurisdiction were all different and there couldn’t be a one size fits all model.“This is part of a new approach and the ambition for all of our member jurisdictions,” she warned. “We recognise that we have some tough issues to dialogue about over the course of the next few days. The road will not be easy.“We have to rebalance our economies and ensure that growth, opportunity are shared across the globe.“However we are working towards establishing a model that will operate to benefit us all.”Looking ahead, Ms Cox said that the issue of technical assistance had come to the fore in the third and final year of the Global Forum’s first mandate with many jurisdictions still in the process of updating their treaty networks or amending their legislation and administrative systems to implement it while the forum also had the responsibility to help all of its members to bring in the standard as a means to improve access to information and to ensure better tax compliance.She went on to reveal that Bermuda was set to initial a TIEA with Kenya later in the day as the first country to reach such a deal with the African nation.Mr Rawstron said that the OECD aimed to complete 60 reviews by November and to have concluded all of the phase one reviews by next year.He added that while the signing of tax information exchange agreements had slowed down due to scarcer resources and time consuming negotiations, the organisation would be looking at ways of speeding up and making the process easier. Then it was time for the real work to begin and the Bermuda delegation of Government MPs and officials, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the Bermuda Stock Exchange along with the media were escorted out of the room. Most of them made a beeline for the breakfast buffet on offer.Those Government members with more pressing agendas to attend to held a series of question-and-answers sessions with journalists, including Health Minister Zane DeSilva, Economy Minister Kim Wilson and Business Development and Tourism Minister Patrice Minors. Ms Minors will be chairing a round table event with the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Business Bermuda at Camden today.