(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Grenada’s Finance and Planning Minister the Hon Nazim Burke has called for “renewed funding opportunities in Information and Communication Technologies for developing countries to avoid “remaining on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
Minister Burke was representing Grenada’s Prime Minister the Hon Tillman Thomas at the just concluded Connect the America’s Summit in Panama City. In presenting a policy statement the three-day Summit organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Minister Burke told delegates that CARICOM Heads of Government were committed to the development of the ICT sector in the region because it was a catalyst for social and economic development.
The Caribbean Region, he asserted “understands that part of that well-being includes finding ways to get our unconnected people connected and part of the living, breathing Digital economy of the 21st century.”
Minister Burke, who also has portfolio responsibility for Minister for Energy, Foreign Trade and Cooperatives, stated that the Summit mirrored and endorsed some of the CARICOM Region’s own initiatives in ICT. He pointed to several projects proposed by CARICOM and noted that “these projects are proposed with purpose – simply but strategically because we have long-term, strategic, people-centred plans for our Region- which we want to see come alive in this century – sooner rather than later for the vitalization of the Region.”
He added that the Summit provided an opportunity for the regions of the Americas to speak with one voice and to promote unity.
Meanwhile, the Hon Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, Minister of Public Administration, Trinidad and Tobago commended the ITU for its vision to connect the unconnected by 2015.
She added that Trinidad and Tobago regarded ICT as a critical sector to diversify its economy. The national goal is to create 100 percent access at a speed of not less than 100 megabits per second. She joined with her Grenada colleague by stating that “we cannot speak with one voice unless we are connected.”
Nine CARICOM Member States – Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago – attended the Summit, with seven of those countries boasting representation at the Ministerial level.
CARICOM submitted ten regional projects which it hoped would attract investments from private sector and other International Development Partners at the Summit: (1) Market Intelligence System; (2) Developing Apps for National and Economic Development; (3) Regional G2B/B2B e-Market; (4) Development of a Regional ICT Space for CARICOM countries; (5) CARICOM Human Capacity- Building and Digital Literacy Project; (6) Development of a Regional Information System; (7) Caribbean Spectrum Management; (8) Single Virtual University Space; (9) CKLN III /C@ribNET II; and (10) Connecting the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The regional projects resonate with the objectives of the Regional Digital Development Strategy, which speak to realizing fast and accessible broadband infrastructure across the whole of CARICOM; facilitating the development of new services and applications; development and commitment to a clear, robust legal and regulatory framework; increased investment in research and innovation in ICT; and responding to users/citizens increasing concern on the security of transactions and communications. The Summit, which ended last Thursday, was preceded on Tuesday by a multi-stakeholder meeting that brought potential investors, countries and organisations together to review the projects.
