Cox praises Clinton at New York forum

FRIDAY, SEPT. 14: Premier Paula Cox yesterday shared the limelight with former US President Bill Clinton at a major US-Arab business conference in New York.

Ms Cox, also Minister of Finance, introduced Mr Clinton, who delivered the keynote speech at the C3 Summit, which aims to help forge business and social links in the Middle East.

Speaking from New York last night, Ms Cox told the Bermuda Sun: “It’s been a very busy day, but a good one.

“The people there are committed to furthering strategic relationships and it was good for Bermuda to be in that space.

“Bermuda made an impact — part of relationship building and seeking to go after different markets is not a case of ‘one swallow a summer makes’.

“You have to nurture relationships and get people in. But you can’t just leave it at that. You have to nurture relationships and let people know that you’re in it for the long haul and that you are consistent.”

Ms Cox said that her introduction for Mr Clinton had praised the former President’s inspirational speech at the recent Democratic National Conference.

She added: “I talked about his record as 42nd president of the US and some of the things he did as president.

“He typifies C3 — collaboration, community and commerce — and I talked about him as a global figure seeking to build bridges around the world.”

Ms Cox said she also mentioned the charitable Clinton Foundation, designed to promote community advancement on a global scale, which set up with a handful of staff in New York’s Harlem in 2001 and which is now the fastest-growing non-governmental organization in the world.

She added: “He spoke for a good 45 minutes, then I moderated in terms of people asking him questions, and he took another 40 minutes doing that.

Ms Cox added that Mr Clinton — who is also committed to green issues — had asked for contacts in the Bermuda Government, which is promoting environmentally-sound policies and renewable energy sources.

Popular appeal

She said: “He has tremendous popular appeal and his message is simple. Combat inequality and instability and promote sustainability.”

Ms Cox said it was “heartening” that conference-goers, many from the Arab world, had held a minute’s silence for the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, who was murdered along with three other staff after a terrorist attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday.

 The summit, held at the Museum of Natural History auditorium and which ends today, was headlined by the two-time Democratic President and attended top business figures, policy makers and academics.

They included Sanford Weill, ex-chairman and CEO of banking giant Citigroup, and Abdullah A. Zainell Allreza, the former Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Ms Cox is expected to address the conference again today before joining a panel that will include Minister of Business Development and Tourism Wayne Furbert and Jeremy Cox, chairman of the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Belaid Jheengoor, director of asset management at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, will also sit on the panel and present highlights of a survey by the firm of the challenges and rewards of Bermuda’s Middle East business drive.