Bermuda will be home to the Caribbean regional office of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).At WITSA’s general assembly last week, the Business Technology Division (BTD) of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce was formally announced as the Regional WITSA Office for the Caribbean and John Kyle was elected to the position of director and vice-chairman for the regional office.“This is a great honour for Bermuda’s ICT industry which has benefited from our association with WITSA in terms of having a voice in the industry and less tangibly through contacts in the global organisation which has now 84 member countries. WITSA is recognised as the global voice of the industry and regularly hosts meetings of the key ICT influencers from around the world,” Mr Kyle, who is managing director of Gateway Systems, said.“In 2009, the BTD co-hosted with the Department of E-Commerce, WITSA’s Global Public Policy Summit (GPPS) and this resulted in the Bermuda declaration being issued; the first consensus document for the policy action items adopted by the delegates identifying the policy priorities for the global ICT industry.“Subsequent WITSA conferences have adopted this practice and built on it in Holland in 2010, Mexico in 2011 and most recently in Montreal this week. The next conference is scheduled in late 2013 in Brazil. These efforts could not have been successful without the continued partnership with the Department of E-Commerce and specifically the director, Nancy Volesky, who is sits on WITSA’s global public policy working group.”The aim of the Bermuda based virtual-office is to establish a WITSA community in the Caribbean and assist organise the industry to collaborate and partner where possible to grow the ICT sector to share solutions, pool resources and have input in the global decisions being made now and in the future that will effect access and the governance of the industry.The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is the leading recognised international voice of the global ICT industry, whose members from 84 countries and economies represent more than 90 percent of the world ICT market.WITSA is dedicated to advocating policies that advance industry growth and development; facilitating international trade and investment in ICT products and services; strengthening WITSA’s national industry associations; and providing members with a broad network of professional contacts.