Premier Jennifer Smith took a new angle at a recent meeting with top officials in London and stressed the importance of including developing countries in investigations of how financial business is conducted in various jurisdictions.

Ms Smith presented her views when she delivered the opening address at the meeting of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council International Affairs and Financial Issues held in London on October 3. In the speech which the Premier refused to release to the media until Friday, she pointed out the importance of including developing countries in the move to raise the standard of financial dealings internationally.

"To date, developing countries remain largely excluded from the main decision making forums,'' she said. Ms Smith said that she felt that through technology the world was becoming more "interconnected'' and becoming "smaller'' and stressed the importance of co-operation between countries and various member communities of the Overseas Territory Consultative Council. "Co-operation is essential because financial ills in one country can lead, in this interconnected world, to similar ills elsewhere,'' she said.

"Efforts to eradicate financial activities that are criminal in nature, or that have the potential to cause instability in markets and economies, will succeed only to the extent that all members of the community are involved in the process,'' she added.

"In the absence of such a co-operative approach, the risk is that the activities being targeted will simply shift from one member of the community to another, more `accommodating' member of the community.'' Ms Smith, while holding high the banner of Bermuda as a "strong advocate for high standards of financial regulation and ethical business practices'', warned that Bermuda would not be bullied.

"While we will continue to cooperate fully in the future, what we will not do is compromise our own inalienable and constitutional rights in any way,'' she said. "We will adopt practices that are beneficial to Bermuda and to our important financial services sector,'' she continued.

"We will take a long hard look at proposals made on issues like information exchange and tax policy to make certain that the proposals make sense to Bermuda and are in the best interest of Bermudians,'' she said. The Premier was also strong in her view that "relevant stakeholders'' should fully participate in the review process rather than "on the mere involvement of them''. She said she felt the UK and Overseas Territories could "lead the way in developing such an enlightened approach''.