Bermuda has a fight on its hands to maintain its position as a leading jurisdiction with increased global competition for talent and capital and the rising cost of doing business on the Island.That was the conclusion drawn by a panel of experts who were speaking at the Bermuda Employers’ Council annual general meeting held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday.Covering a range of issues from the economy to low interest rates, Gil Tucker, partner at Ernst & Young Bermuda, Maynard Dill, former president of the Trade Union Congress, Graham Pewter, president and CEO of Catlin Bermuda, and Peter Everson, former chairman of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce’s economic committee gave a frank assessment of the realities of the current economic environment for businesses and their employees.Mr Pewter said that given that Bermuda-based companies were operating in an international arena facing competition from all corners of the world it was key for them to attract the best talent.While acknowledging that Bermuda was an expensive place to do business, he said that the many benefits it had to offer including tax and regulatory efficiencies, proximity to the US and a solid infrastructure offset those cost burdens.“Our business is cyclical, we are now at the bottom end of the underwriting cycle and when that is set against a recession that is deep with no end in sight it is inevitable in a difficult economy that companies will look to drive efficiencies through their business,” he said.And despite accepting that it was inevitable that jobs would be outsourced to low cost jurisdictions, Mr Pewter said that international businesses were committed to Bermuda and the employment of Bermudians wherever and whenever possible due to the mandate to take on qualified Bermudians and the cost savings of developing a local workforce versus bringing in guest workers from overseas.Mr Tucker said that ways needed to be sought to add value to the jobs done in Bermuda, adding that many international businesses found it hard to attract business to the Island, were not made to feel welcome or were held up in receiving work permits for their staff.He said that his biggest concern was the number of C-suite professionals who had relocated from Bermuda to other jurisdictions, most of whom were job creators on the island.Mr Everson said that the high cost of doing business was not isolated to Bermuda itself but had been exacerbated by the advent of technology with the ability to do the same job abroad for a fraction of the cost.He said that the focus needed to be on essential technically-skilled personnel who were required to be on the ground interacting face-to-face with clients while admitting that the large mass of jobs which had left the Island in recent years was going to be hard to bring back.Turning to the issue of the current low interest rate environment, Mr Everson said that while banks were suffering as a result, so were savers, most notably retirees and pension holders, as well as insurance companies.He added that the different rates paid on bringing in goods from abroad and shopping in stores in Bermuda needed to be reviewed and called for a debate on how the country’s tax structure should be changed.On the issue of middle classes, Mr Tucker said that Bermuda needed to open itself up for business to get more people buying cars, renting homes and eating in restaurants, which would in turn trickle down to local suppliers and the Bermudian employees at those companies and thus boost the economy.He said that due to the shortfall in Bermudians to fill key jobs on the Island there was still a need to attract the top foreign human capital in direct competition with a host of other rival jurisdictions however it was essential to ensure that the local workforce was playing an important role and had an equitable stake in the economy.“We have to accept here in Bermuda that there is a new norm,” he said.“But I believe that we will get through this ... and I really do believe that Bermuda’s best days are ahead of itself.”Mr Pewter said that Bermuda was now facing increasing competition for business from the likes of Ireland and Switzerland and he was not sure that the tax and other incentives being offered would make much difference in bringing back jobs to the Island that had been outsourced.However he said that Bermuda needed to focus on creating the right working environment to attract new companies and retain existing ones while making the country aware of the importance of international business to the economy.Mr Everson added that the biggest single issue with the economy was training and communication in order to be more efficient and maintain a competitive edge.l Keith Wainwright and Krystle DeSilva were selected for the Malcolm Dixon Scholarship Award at the BEC AGM yesterday.Mr Wainwright works as the sub post office co-ordinator at the Bermuda Post Office. He is responsible for 15 supervisors and approximately 60 line employees who are members of both the Bermuda Public Services Union and the Bermuda Industrial Union.He also serves on both the BPSU and BIU JCC committees and has just completed via Cornell University his Collective Bargaining Studies Certificate. Mr Wainwright is continuing his studies with Cornell and will be undertaking his Contract Administration Studies certificate in April/May 2012.Ms DeSilva is employed with Key Management Services as a human resources co-ordinator. In her role, she provides support to the KeyTech Group of Companies through a variety of human resources duties including all payroll processes and benefits programmes, recruitment, performance management and employee relations matters. She started her online studies with the University of Liverpool in September 2010 and is pursuing a MSc in Global HR Management.