3. Caribbean Region Update
The wheels of Caribbean business do not turn
as rapidly as other countries for many reasons!
…but things are moving!
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4. Caribbean Islands
Current WITSA Membership
Country Status
Bermuda Current
Trinidad and Tobago Current
Jamaica Lapsed
Haiti Lapsed
Netherland Antilles Lapsed
Currently Excluded
Contact established with Organisation or Government
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5. Caribbean Region Mission
• 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.
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6. WITSA Caribbean Region
• 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
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7. Why Bermuda as Regional Office?
• 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.
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8. WITSA Caribbean Update
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!
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