Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers responsible for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), have reiterated their support for a full resumption of service by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in the shortest possible time.
Meeting at the Jolly Beach Hotel in Antigua on 15 May 2002, the Ministers noted that the Region had suffered from an absence of regular news and information flow as a result of the temporary closure of the CMC since January 2002.
During the opening session Antigua and Barbuda's Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr. Guy Yearwood, underscored the importance of the meeting, saying that it provided an opportunity for the Ministers to comprehensively discuss the way forward for the ailing media corporation.
“It is very instructive that it is at the Community level that we are moving ahead to redress this anomaly,” Mr. Yearwood said.
Minister Yearwood called on his colleagues to find positive solutions to revitalize the CMC – “solutions which the ministers can report to the Heads of Government, who have a deep interest in the future of the CMC”. He added, “Although the Caribbean Media Corporation has resumed a limited news service to the Region, and despite the fact that we are still able to follow the fortunes of the West Indies Cricket Team, this important regional organisation remains in the intensive care”.
Jamaica's Information Minister Colin Campbell, expressed hope that the phased resumption of services by the CMC would lead to a sustained strategy for the growth of the Caribbean media organisation.
Minister Campbell urged that the ICT meeting facilitate and promote a Caribbean strategy prior to the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
“This is critical because the ICT sector, as the principal creator of goods and services, is greatly influenced by the forces of globalisation,” Mr. Campbell said.
In April this year, the CMC began a “phased-resumption of partial services” in print, radio and television news dissemination, utilising only a staff of seven. The CMC has also commissioned a Business Plan, using the services of Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust (CBET), a draft of which is expected by June 2002.
At their last meeting in February in Belize, Heads of Government of CARICOM mandated that a management and business plan be prepared for consideration for the follow-up Meeting of Ministers of Information.
The Regional Information, Communication and Technology Meeting is being held against the backdrop of globalised technological changes affecting areas of production, trade and culture.
Assistant Secretary-General for Regional Trade and Economic Integration, at the CARICOM Secretariat Mr. Byron Blake, noted that there is hardly a facet of today's life that is not affected by the developments in information, communication and technology. “They hold great potential for widening not only economic but social divisions in and among countries,” Mr. Blake said, adding, that the changes, which technologies are forcing on areas of production, require policies to creatively exploit new opportunities.
