Bermuda’s Corporation of Hamilton has announced it will host the 40th annual Conference of Black Mayors Convention later this year.

The event, which will take place on November 12 – 16, 2014, at The Fairmont Southampton, will convene the largest gathering of Mayors and local officials from around the world.

Mayors from cities, towns and villages from all over the U.S. will be joined by high level officials from China, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In making the announcement, the Chairman of the local Organizing Committee, the City of Hamilton’s Deputy Mayor Donal Smith, said the Conference of Black Mayors had grown from modest beginnings into an event of considerable political and economic importance that now includes more than 2,000 African/American Mayors and municipal staff and has attracted the participation of politicians, business and financial leaders not only from the U.S. but increasingly from around the world.

“Today the CBM also includes 39,000 political leaders and elected officials of color from around the world. Currently we estimate that the City of Hamilton, Bermuda, will be greeting 400 – 500 plus delegates from as far away as Brazil, Colombia, China, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Jamaicaand the Caribbean Islands and we should note that the aim of this great gathering has always been to improve the quality of life in the cities, townships and villages these Mayors and these officials represent.”

The Mayor of Hamilton, The Rt. Worshipful Graeme Outerbridge, JP, said, the CBM represents one of the most influential political and financial groups in the U.S. and in many other countries around the world. “They represent a powerful voting block in the U.S. and beyond and preside over millions of dollars of municipal funds and new development. As such, they represent enormous opportunities for our international business sector to pursue. We are delighted that the CBM has chosen to come to Bermuda.”

Mr. Smith noted that many U.S. politicians and their

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