The new president of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce says Bermuda needs to be more friendly and welcoming to international business before local businesses will see recovery.Ronnie Viera spoke exclusively to The Royal Gazette after the Chamber introduced him to its members as their new president at the at the organisation’s annual general meeting luncheon at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday.Mr Viera replaces Buddy Rego who was president since November 2011 when Stephen Todd stepped down to become a PLP candidate.With more than 30 years experience in IT, Mr Viera is chief operating officer for First Atlantic Commerce (FAC), and has spent more than a decade heading up Information Technology departments for three major companies including Argus, Capital G and FAC.And while his computer science background may seem to some like an odd fit for a Chamber of Commerce president, he said it works.“Yes, my background is IT and I’m still heavily involved in IT, but I’ve been at a senior management level with the company for the last 15 years, so I’m very familiar with business issues,” Mr Viera said. “I’m not an entrepreneur, I’ve not run a business, but I’m totally sensitive to that. And I’m not a man on my own here either. We have a board that has a diverse business background, so I think some people look me as having a totally different perspective, an outside perspective, and sometimes that’s helpful.”With the Island in recession and Bermuda businesses struggling to stay afloat and keep people employed, Mr Viera says it’s not lost on him just how tough his new role will be.“These are challenging times and I realise I’m coming into this role in a pretty challenging environment both internally and in Bermuda as a whole, so hopefully we can make some improvements.”Mr Viera said that while he hopes to see more visitors come to Bermuda, when it comes to getting the Island out of this recession — the focus should be more on international business than tourism.“Quite honestly, part of the tourism plan, whatever it is, should be that Bermuda needs to create an exciting place for people to come to. Certainly the restaurant and retail division survive a lot on the tourism, but one of the big reasons retail is taking such a hit right now is the lack of people here,” he said. “Encouraging international business, encouraging jobs on the Island — it gets people spending money on the Island and it just gets the economic cycle going. And right now, the economic cycle is sort of broken.“It’s a stated statistic — tourism contributes just under five percent of our GDP and international business is a magnitude higher, so it’s critical. We really have to do whatever we can to keep them here and encourage them to stay here and to employ people — that’s the key. Whilst it’s nice to have the funds coming into Bermuda from tourists, it’s really the jobs that are going to make it work and that’s been the challenge lately — keeping those jobs here.”Mr Viera said he suspects he knows what’s driving some international business away.“It’s cost. That’s definitely a big part of it. In this economy, investment income is down, revenues are down, so there’s lots of pressure on costs. Whenever that happens, businesses look to where they can do things a lot cheaper. It’s also the environment here. We’ve got to make it more welcoming — got to make it easier to do business here,” Mr Viera said.“I think it’s starting to happen, but I get concerned when I hear work permit holders say they come through the airport and it’s still a bit of an unwelcoming experience — that’s not helpful right now,” he adds. “If we don’t make Bermuda friendly, then that causes more people to consider whether they want to stay here or not.“When you come through the airport and you’re hassled by Immigration, then you’re hassled by customs, it just doesn’t help. These [work permit holders] are people who are spending money here and sometimes, they don’t know why they get treated the way they do,” he said. “I don’t have that job, I’m sure it’s tough, but given the same treatment in another country, anyone would be offended. I get asked a few questions going through US immigration and they take my fingerprints, but you know — they’re friendly. You go through and it’s done.”Mr Viera says just as the economy is affecting the number of tourists and international business workers here, how much they spend and how local businesses do, it’s affecting the Chamber’s membership numbers. He said his main concern is maintaining revenue and to do that, he said they must encourage membership by showing people the value of being a member.“Concern is a negative word, but it’s a fact,” he said. “We need to be able to survive financially in order to continue to provide the things that we do. So we have to demonstrate value for membership.”In the last few months, particularly since Joanne MacPhee was named as executive director, the Chamber has been outspoken on a number of issues like payroll tax relief, import duty increases, work permit term limits and union issues. Mr Viera says as the organisation that represents businesses that are struggling, they have to be outspoken.“We’ve always enjoyed a good relationship with government, so we want to maintain that, but at the same time, we’ve got to demonstrate to our members that we’re working on their behalf,” Mr Viera said. “Those things are concerns to our members. Sometimes you just have to keep reminding those in authority, who can make a change, that there are concerns.”Mr Viera says the Chamber acts a mouthpiece for the entire business community and his goal is to continue to deliver value to its members that way, and demonstrate to non-members that the Chamber is an effective advocate fighting on their behalf.“There are a lot of businesses I think that are benefiting from some of the things we’ve negotiated or worked with Government on, like the payroll tax relief, but they’re not members. That’s a direct financial benefit to them,” he said.“It’s important to have a group working with Government. I think Government prefers to have a group to negotiate with. They don’t want 300 different people talking to them about positions and ideas, so our role is critical.”