Millions of dollars worth of business could be brought to Bermuda next year when a thousand delegates from all over Latin America, Spain and Portugal descend on the Island for a conference.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox yesterday announced Bermuda had clinched a deal that would see for the first time in its history the main risk and insurance body in Latin America hold its conference outside the region.

The Asociacion Latinoamericana de Administradores de Reisgos y Seguros (ALARYS) has selected Bermuda as the venue for its sixth biennial conference next year.

"It is a pleasure to announce a significant development in Bermuda Latin American relations," said Mr. Cox yesterday on making the announcement with members of the insurance world and Jorge Luzzi, president of ALARYS. "As Minister of Finance I express Government's full support of the visit to Bermuda of Jorge Luzzi, president of ALARYS."

The event will bring in about 400 delegates from Latin America and Europe, plus their families, and is expected to open up a whole new region of development for Bermuda's businesses.

And the Island could get a further boost if the deal to get an affiliated conference, the International Federation of Risk and Insurance Management Associations (IFRIMA) is signed next month.

If signed it could bring up to 1,000 insurance professionals from around the world to Bermuda during the same week.

No exact date for the conferences has been set up, but it could be either September or October 2004, according to Mr. Luzzi, who has been working behind the scenes on brining the conference to Bermuda.

For the past ten years a Bermuda delegation has been attending the ALARYS conferences, and working in the region to expand Bermuda's business horizons.

And this has resulted in many Bermuda insurance companies not only having offices across the region, but also in many large companies in Latin America setting up captives on the Island as links have become stronger.

The Bermuda Insurance Management Association and the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee teamed up to make sure the conference would come to Bermuda - and yesterday were proud to reveal a deal had been sealed.

Yesterday they held a Press conference to announce that hundreds of risk managers from Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Spain and Portugal will be flying in to attend the conference.

Neletha Butterfield, acting Minister of Tourism, said she was delighted that the ALARYS conference was coming to Bermuda.

"It will be a boost for the tourism industry and a boost for the economy," she said. "The delegates will also be coming with their families and friends - and they are welcome. We thank them for choosing Bermuda."

Rory Gorman, president of the Bermuda Insurance Management Association, said: "We see this as a wonderful opportunity to enhance the relationship between Bermuda and Latin America."

Peter Strong, chairman of the Insurance Advisory Committee, also welcomed the conference to Bermuda. "We look forward to a very successful ALARYS event."

He said they had assembled a team of professionals to plan the congress and expected "significant support" from the business community. "Our endeavour is to make the sixth ALARYS Congress the best one yet."

"I have only found kind people in Bermuda," said Mr. Luzzi. "From the taxi drivers to the people in hotels, they have all made me welcome."

He said he was overwhelmed by the response he had from official bodies on the Island, with unsolicited offers of help for the conference flooding in.

"I am honoured to come to your beautiful island," he added.