Bermuda has been a continuous supporter and friend of the US for 400 years and, in spite of our small size, we have been one of the United State's most durable and dependable friends.

The United States' history is intricately linked with Bermuda.

Our enduring and trustworthy friendship has been continuously demonstrated by Bermuda in a number of tangible and significant ways:

• Bermudians gave food and supplies in 1610 to the starving first wave of settlers that established Jamestown. We can rightly claim, therefore, that we assisted in the settlement of Jamestown.

• In 1777, during the War of Independence, sympathetic Bermudians stole hundreds of barrels of gunpowder from a local British fort in Bermuda, which was used by Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Today in Bermuda, American visitors can see the original letter from George Washington asking Bermudians to steal gunpowder and another letter thanking Bermudians for their kind deed.

• In 1941 the United States signed a 99-year lease on a large part of Bermuda and began construction of two military bases. The area represented 10 percent of the land mass of Bermuda. The Island was central to the defence of the eastern seaboard of North America.

The bases were leased without compensation or an annual rent unlike other foreign countries that had bases on their soil.

• In 1988 Bermuda and the United States signed the US/Bermuda Tax Treaty in Washington, D.C. This treaty enabled our respective countries to have an exchange of information and made provisions for the establishment of reinsurance and insurance companies to domicile in Bermuda with the consent of the US and these companies are the foundation of our economy today.

• Bermuda has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and India and many other countries.

• In 2009 the Government of Bermuda and the United States signed a mutual assistance treaty known as the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which will allow authorities in both countries to collect criminal evidence from one another.

• In 2009 the Premier of Bermuda took the decision to settle four Uighurs in Bermuda from Guantánamo Bay in Cuba without any promise of compensation, or preconditions of any kind when the legislators of the United States were strenuously objecting to the settling of the Uighurs in the US.

• Over the past six years, Bermuda-based international insurance, reinsurance and special risks industries have paid approximately 25 billion dollars in claims to the US.

The international business sector, and especially reinsurers, are critically important to the US especially when catastrophes strike. Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers employ thousands of Americans, some in Bermuda but the majority in the US.

• The Bermuda Nasa Station became an integral part of Nasa and played a vital role in the United States Apollo lunar program and other missions. The Bermuda Airport became an alternative landing site of space shuttles, if necessary and the first contact after lift-off.

• Bermuda continues to serve as a destination for ships and aircraft in trouble in the North Atlantic requiring to have adequate hospital, fire and maritime facilities to respond to emergencies.

Bermuda has US pre-Customs clearance and visa free travel to the US by Bermudians. We understand that only Canada enjoys these combined privileges. This points to the strength of our relationship.

The overarching link between Bermuda and the United States is by history, genealogy, business, language and culture.

Bermuda in many ways models itself after the United States economically and socially. Geography makes us neighbours; trade makes us partners; and shared beliefs in democratic values makes us friends.

Our relationship goes beyond economics; it includes cooperation in areas such as health care, education, culture, as well as institutional exchanges between public and private partners.

Bermuda has a very stable economy built on tourism and international business. Tourism has been in serious decline over the last decade, therefore, Bermuda has had to depend on international business to a greater extent.

The US regulators have not been consistent when applying their tax policies.

The Tax Treaty and Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) that we signed with the US Government in 1988 seems to have been completely ignored. Swiss banks have been accused of actively encouraging American citizens to avoid taxes yet they seem to have been treated more favourably than Bermuda.

We appreciate that globalisation and the world economic recession has elevated a number of issues up on the list of international priorities, but this should not include destroying the economy of one of your most dependable and tested friends.

Our relationship with the US is indispensable. It is the cornerstone of our economy.

During the Revolutionary War, the two World Wars and the Cold War, our two countries, Bermuda and the US, had by necessity, developed a mutually beneficial relationship. We have, therefore, been partners and allies in some of the great historical events of the past four centuries.

However, the end of the Cold War ushered in the new era of globalisation that has changed our relationship from being an interdependent to a primarily dependent one. Bermuda is almost entirely dependent on the US for our economic well-being.

Bermuda does not have the bases and our strategic location as a bargaining chip any more, at least not for the time being. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and with the collapse of communism, the Cold War was over. The Russians no longer pose a threat.

These events blew away any bargaining power that we had with the US. The Cold War system was a world of "friends and enemies" depending on what side you were allied to. The globalised world, by contrast, tends to turn all friends and enemies into competitors.

We would like to think that a forward-looking country like the US would have as its cardinal principle for its foreign policy in the 21st century the enhancement of relationships with its long and reliable friends.

We are not asking for US policy to be to the disadvantage of US citizens, but we are asking that Bermuda not be made a political and policy scapegoat.

It's morally and politically right that we maintain the fundamental trust which exists between our two countries for four centuries.

The overwhelming majority of Bermudians go to the US for their college and university education and approximately 85 percent of our goods and services are imported from the USA.

US regulators and legislators should be persuaded against adopting policies that will destroy Bermuda's economy that will undoubtedly lead to instability.

The simple reality is that we do not have any alternative or option to continue to maintain a healthy relationship with the US if we are to continue to serve each others mutual interest.

Immediately following the attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11, a considerable amount of communication equipment was destroyed but because of international business in Bermuda, the ongoing communication system allowed telephone lines to bypass the damaged system through Bermuda and come back to the US, thus allowing a very short period of interruption to the US system.

The world would continue to be challenged with terrorism and problems yet unknown, which will threaten the US and Bermuda's freedom and security. It is imperative that Bermuda and the US continue to safeguard each other so that our democracies can assist each other in times of need.