Dear Fellow WITSA Members:

As you know, our good friends in Malaysia are hard at work preparing for the 2008 World Congress on IT.  As you also know, the next WITSA Steering Committee meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur from May 16^th through the 18^th. 

There is a very exciting and important program of activities being planned for you.  We will begin on the evening of the 16^th with a special reception for our WITSA Founding Partners.  On the 17^th we will have our regular business meeting in the morning and tour of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, where the World Congress will be taking place. 

After the tour and lunch, the group will return to our meeting where John Higgins of Intellect (UK) will conduct a workshop on the future format of WITSA meetings and the long-term strategic direction of our organization.

There will be a reception hosted by PIKOM (Malaysia) on the evening of the 17^th.

On the 18^th, David Olive will lead a session on Public Policy.  After this session, the group has been invited to attend a meeting hosted by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.  We are invited to have lunch with the MSC Malaysia International Advisory Panel or (IAP; ref. http://www.msc.com.my/msc/msciap.asp), followed by a tour and dinner (please see draft itinerary below for additional details).

The MSC International Advisory Panel (IAP) is a group of leading industry figures, academicians, top members of international think tanks, CEOs and international experts who provide counsel to the Malaysian Government in shaping the development and growth of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia) and the ICT industry at large. The IAP members' inputs and expertise have so far contributed significantly and have been used as part of the strategy for the development of the MSC Malaysia.  This will be the 10^th Annual IAP meeting.  It will be held Cyberjaya, a worldwide technology region of Malaysia (ref. http://www.cyberjaya-msc.com/).

Please find attached a draft agenda for our meeting and an itinerary of our events in Kuala Lumpur.

If you have not registered to attend this special WITSA meeting please do so right away (by return email to Anders Halvorsen at ahalvorsen@itaa.org - please remember to include your arrival/departure time and hotel information).

As announced previously, as the Traders Hotel will not be able to hold the discounted room-rates for very long, please be sure to make your hotel arrangements as soon as possible by emailing Ms. Melanie Yap at melanie@wcit2008.org (the rates are: Deluxe City View at RM230.00 (approx. U.S. $66) per night or Club Floor rooms with Club lounge access and breakfast at RM330.00 (approx. U.S. $94) per room).  

We will be sending out agendas and other meeting information next week. 

Hope to see you in Kuala Lumpur.

Best regards,