E-commerce Minister Renee Webb has launched the Information Age Forum as a way for Government and businesses to chart the way ahead for E-commerce.

The forum was put forward in the E-business Green Paper published last year and on Friday Ms Webb announced that it had been launched.

The core of the main body will be made up of information technology companies, telecommunications firms, associated companies that have specific interests in E-business and Government representatives.

?The model of business-Government partnership is alive and well in Bermuda,? Ms Webb said in the House of Assembly. ?And particularly within my own Ministry from tourism through telecommunications to E-business.?

The forum was launched last Wednesday with an open meeting which attracted over 50 people, said Ms Webb.

Ms Webb said: ?I am pleased to report that the initial meeting was a considerable success with many of the companies present offering their support and commitment in ensuring that their capabilities are adequately reflected in the E-commerce Department?s E-business marketing strategy.?

She went on to say that two Bermuda marketing and public relations businesses, Aardvark and Troncossi both gave talks. This was followed by representatives from the Horn Group ? which is organising public relations for Bermuda in the US ? and Research.bm, a Bermudian research company which is surveying US businesses on whether they had ever considered moving their E-business platforms to Bermuda.

Ms Webb said that during the meeting, attendees were interested in seeing the results of the US research project.

?We hope (the research project) will inform us, in considerable detail, on the information, assurances and requirements that US companies require in making a decision to deploy their E-business platforms in Bermuda,? she said.

Ms Webb said participants understood that the success of Bermuda?s E-business strategy was not primarily in the hands of Government. The forum will meet every two months or so. Among the topics to be discussed are the cost of Internet services, broadband penetration and digital television.

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