The British-American Parliamentary Group is meeting on the Island from May 6 to 8.

The British delegation is headed by Secretary of State for Defence the Hon.

Malcolm Rifkind, while the American team is led by Mr. Lee Hamilton, a Democratic Congressman from Indiana who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Other American Congressmen expected are: Mr. Charlie Rose (Democrat, North Carolina); Mr. Tom Lantos (Democrat, California); Mr. Sherwood Boehlert (Republican, New York); Mr. Eliot Engel (Democrat, New York); Mr. Robert Torricelli (Democrat, New Jersey); Mr. Tom Lewis (Republican, Florida); Mr.

Floyd Spence (Republican, South Carolina); and Mr. Bill Young (Republican, Florida).

Members of the British delegation include: Lord Ashbourne, Mr. Quentin Davies, Mr. Timothy Kirkhoop, and Mr. Michael Lord from the Government side; and Mr.

John Cunningham, Mr. Stuart Bell, Mr. Ray Powell, and Mr. Malcolm Wicks from the Opposition.

Details on the agenda were not available yesterday, but three closed sessions in the Senate chamber were planned for May 6 and 7.

The British and Americans will arrive just in time for what could be a stormy session of the Bermuda House of Assembly, which resumes after the Easter Break on May 6.

Mr. Peter Abdruzzese, secretary of the American delegation and a staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the group recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in England. It held its first meeting in Bermuda in 1941. The three sessions were usually devoted to general policies, economics and trade, and security, he said.

But the off-the-record talks "go beyond that,'' he said. "They sit around the table, and once the discussions get going, there are really no rules of debate.'' The politicians brought issues back to their home Parliaments and committees. "The impact on policy is indirect, but the impact is there nevertheless,'' Mr. Abdruzzese said.

The group met roughly once a year, and last got together in the United States in December of 1992. The last time the group met in Bermuda was 1988. The British and Americans took turns arranging the programme, Mr. Abdruzzese said.

This year, it was the turn of the British.