Hughes, is here in the Cayman Islands for the United Nations Offshore Forum Plenary on international money laundering which opened on Thursday. The forum, hosted by the Government of the Cayman Islands, has attracted some 80 delegates, representing 37 countries and territories from around the world.

Mr. Hughes, visiting Cayman for the first time, reports he feels the importance of the conference, from his perspective -- pointing out that he is here as a representative of the Government of Bermuda, and not a political representative -- is for him "to be here to give input where appropriate''.

He says the confab, under the auspices of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) "validates, or reaffirms, that Bermuda is doing the right things in this area, embracing the standards that have been the focus of Bermuda for some time''.

"The key message,'' he said, "is that we need to assure that jurisdictions are compliant with international standards, and staying compliant, not resting on our laurels. Bermuda can feel confident,'' he added.

Although the Press was not allowed inside the meeting on Thursday afternoon, word of some dissension among the ranks filtered out of the conference room.

When asked to address this, Mr. Hughes replied, "there was certainly some''.

"There was a lot of frustration expressed by some jurisdictions,'' he reported, "but not so much with regard to the UN and this initiative.'' He explained: "There was praise for the UN, for using a carrot rather than a stick approach. They're saying: `There's the measures you need to take; here's help, and if you can achieve it, then good', whereas the approach of other initiatives previously,'' he said, "used other approaches such as `name and shame' to offshore jurisdictions.

"Their objectives were not always clear,'' he said of those initiatives, "nor were the criteria by which the jurisdictions were judged,'' he added.

The forum provided, he felt, an opportunity for those jurisdictions to "vent their spleen''. The Bahamas, and Barbados, were particularly vocal in expressing their frustrations, and many felt the very word "offshore'' had been used to pejorative effect.

In opening remarks made yesterday, Professor Pino Arlacchi, ODCCP Executive Director, explained the goal of the UN initiative. "The resolve of the international community to combine political will and concrete action was reaffirmed at the highest level by a special session of the General Assembly in June, 1998,'' he said. "Heads of States, Heads of Government and Ministers from around the world unanimously adopted a Political Declaration and Action Plan against Money Laundering. All states were given a target of the year 2003 for adopting adequate national legislation and programmes. The UN Offshore Forum is intended to help states meet that target,'' he added.

Responding to the query of where the initiative was going, Mr. Hughes said he felt there was a good chance that the goal could be achieved, but whether that were possible by 2003, he was not sure. "It's trying to be relevant to different jurisdictions at different stages of development,'' he explained.

"Some jurisdictions who provide cross-border services are further along,'' he added. "Bridging the gap is the biggest challenge,'' he said.

"It's (the goal) something for new jurisdictions to strive for,'' Mr. Hughes said, "but to ensure any jurisdiction performs to high standards to international money laundering is only as good as its weakest link.

Bermuda should feel `confident "If the majority improve their standards, but others don't, the money from the criminal elements will find the weakest links and the goal can't be achieved unless all embrace the standards.'' He concluded by saying he was "encouraged to get validation of Bermuda's standards, and I'm confident we're doing the right things,'' he said.

The conference concluded on Friday.

BUSINESS BUC