WITSA Global Public Policy Summit 2011:The Guadalajara Declaration

WITSA Global Public Policy Summit 2011
The Guadalajara Declaration
Accelerating the implementation of the digital age

WITSA applauds those national and regional governments who have set out digital plans to reap economic and social benefits for their citizens from ICT and other digital technologies.
WITSA commits to work with governments, in partnership with multi-national institutions and other stakeholders, to accelerate the implementation of these plans and overcome barriers to their realisation.
WITSA published its policy actions document [link] for the Summit and, during the two day discussion with associations, businesses and stakeholders from every continent, identified practical actions in four areas that should be taken and solutions that could be developed to enable this acceleration. This declaration signals our intent to drive these actions through our unique global network of national associations.
Every country is seeking sustainable economic growth. The summit agreed that a high quality digital communications infrastructure was an important underpinning to achieve this.
Governments can do more for their citizens, at less cost to the tax-payers, if digital technologies are used to make public services effective and efficient. The summit found that strong public/private governance structures were a vital pre-requisite.
In the digital age ever more information is held in cyber-space. The summit concluded that governments and business must work together to improve and deploy international standards so citizens can be confident that their personal information is protected.
Finally the summit heard how governments are using good public policy to create and foster a thriving digital technology industry that creates jobs in their country. Our hosts in Guadalajara demonstrated how they have achieved this.
This 2011 Guadalajara Declaration is WITSA’s third from its programme of annual summits and congresses and builds on the 2009 Bermuda Declaration (ref. http://www.witsa.org/bermuda09/ApprovedBermudaDeclaration09.pdf) and the 2010 Amsterdam Declaration (ref. http://www.witsa.org/wcit2010/amsterdam_declaration.pdf). WITSA’s Montreal Declaration will be published at the conclusion of its World Congress (WCIT) to be held in Canada in October 2012. The summits, congresses and resulting declarations are part of a programme of activity that involves regular dialogues and sharing of best practice between governments, multi-national institutions and WITSA’s unparalleled network of over 80 digital technology associations around the world.