Caribbean Region UpdateWITSA Meetings / WCIT 2012

October 20-24, Montreal, Canada

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Our own triangle in the Caribbean!

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The wheels of Caribbean business do not turn as rapidly as other countries for many reasons!

Caribbean Region Update

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…but things are moving!

Caribbean Islands

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Contact established with Organisation or Government

Current WITSA Membership

Country Status

Bermuda Current

Trinidad and Tobago Current

Jamaica Lapsed

Haiti Lapsed

Netherland Antilles Lapsed

Currently Excluded

• Expand knowledge of WITSA throughout the Caribbean region and increase the membership to ten (10) islands by end of 2013.– Provide value-add in terms of immediate WITSA membership

• On-Line Register of Associations/Companies and solutions that are island and regional specific. This is in progress for Bermuda and offered free to region to act as a trusted resource for business looking for services or solutions in this area.

• Virtual Regional Meetings to discuss and solve common problems hampering the expansion of the ICT industry in the region. Bermuda are coordinating this for Q1 2013.

• Introduce the larger global advantages of WITSA membership to the region by example.

Caribbean Region Mission

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WITSA Caribbean Region

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• Historically the region has lacked WITSA information and as a consequence members for several reasons:– Islands are small, not wealthy and …– islands are not well organised in terms of ICT associations– Value of membership is currently not perceived– Communications are difficult to arrange in terms of finding the correct

people to whom to talk

Why Bermuda as Regional Office?

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• Bermuda Chamber of Commerce has the capacity to operate this WITSA Regional Office and act as a conduit for the Washington Secretariat.

• Bermuda attends the majority of meetings each year and can carry the WITSA message “first hand” to the region

• Bermuda has a well developed ICT industry and infrastructure as can be shown by its consistent ranking in the top twenty-five (25) in the Economist E-Readiness Lists for several years

• Bermuda has benefited from our WITSA association membership and is a good example to “tell the story”!

• Bermuda ICT companies already have some presence/associations and contacts in the other islands.

• Bermuda has regular contact with WITSA Secretariat and assists where we can.

We all need to do more with less and the promise of the Digital Age does assist this

goal.

We are happy to help IT grow in our region!

WITSA Caribbean Update

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