BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Sept. 24.2018 – AS ICT Week kicks off today (Sept. 24) in the federation, all attention is being placed on the Caribbean Telecommunication Union’s (CTU) meetings which will be held in St. Kitts and Nevis.
ICT week will feature a number of activities, including the 17th Caribbean Ministerial seminar which is expected to see regional ministers discussing the way forward, while seeking to craft policies for the sector.
General Secretary of CTU, Bernadette Lewis in giving SKNVibes News an overview pointed out that with the government of St. Kitts and Nevis agreeing to host the event, it shows its commitment to ICT-enabled development.
ICT Week, Lewis explained, is an initiative designed to raise awareness of the transformative power of information and communication technology,
This year’s week is being recognized under the theme: “21st Century Government, Enhancing Connections…Accelerating progress”, and according to the SG a number of activities are planned to highlight the importance and significance of “embracing and making effective use of information and communication technologies”.
“So, over the course of this week; on the first two days the Ministers Responsible for telecommunications and ICT, there permanent secretaries and their technical officers will be reviewing the work of the CTU in the region; proposing plans and approving plans for further work in developing the ICT sector across the region.”
On Tuesday (Sept 24) evening, the CTU week will officially kickstart with the opening ceremony at the St. Kitts Marriott, before the 17th Ministerial Seminar gets underway on Wednesday morning.
According to the SG, that seminar “seeks to lay a foundation for the understanding of information and communication technologies, how it is evolving, where it is going and to help our members, decisionmakers”.
Further, she explained that it is designed to help them understand the implications of the technological revolution in the context of the environment.
“So we will be speaking about the policies, the legislations, the regulations and issues pertaining to these three areas that are necessary to enabling the environment which you can reap the full benefits of the technology,” she added.
Ministers from Guyana, the Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Island amongst others are expected to share their insights in various discussions during the week.
The discussions will continue on Thursday, September 27th, 2018 before several training workshops round out the week on Friday.
The Caribbean Telecommunications Union has 20-member countries that are represented on the body. St. Kitts and Nevis is part of that regional body.
