Bermuda is well positioned to host “the largest number of mayors, municipal officials and associates ever to have visited the Island” next year, according to Hamilton Deputy Mayor Donal Smith.

However, securing the event — set for autumn of 2014 — remains “a work in progress”, he said.

The 40th annual Conference of Black Mayors “would be great for the country — I know that 400 to 700 people have said they would attend”, Mr Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“We’re still working out the logistics, but we’ve had some good traction on it.”

The City has issued a press release defending the attendance by a Hamilton delegation at the third World Summit of African and Afro-descendant Mayors and Leaders in Colombia.

That event in September was attended by Mr Smith along with alderman Carlton Simmons, and councillors George Scott and Troy Symonds.

Yesterday’s statement added that trust manager Eduardo Fox, who heads the Latin American Committee for the Bermuda Business Development Corporation, had also joined the delegation in Colombia as “counsellor and interpreter”.

Mr Fox endorsed Columbia as the Latin American country of greatest interest to the international business sector in Bermuda, while Mr Smith was quoted as saying that Latin America currently generates “more new business in Bermuda, at a faster rate, than any other region”.

Hamilton mayor Graeme Outerbridge said Bermuda’s presence at the Colombia summit had brought about “inquires from the US, Canada, Colombia, Central America, and South Africa, requesting further information on how to set up investment vehicles in Bermuda”.