BRADES, Montserrat, September 17th, 2012 – Montserrat can lead the Caribbean in the development of service delivery to our citizens with the use of ICT, says the Honourable Premier Reuben T. Meade.
The premier was speaking on the occasion of the launch of the island’s first national ICT Day and the release of its National ICT Strategy and Implementation Plan. “Green, Connected, Thriving: Montserrat in a Digital World” is the theme of the ICT Plan and the inaugural National ICT Day held on Monday, September 17 at the Montserrat Cultural Centre.
Meade commended the Honourable Minister of Communications & Works Charles Kirnon and his team who have worked over the past two years to develop the policy, which outlines a new strategy for promoting the use of technology and the ways in which they can be used to enhance service, education and the economic environment of the island.
The Cabinet recently approved the members of the National ICT Council. They are: Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Premier, Mrs. Beverley Mendes; Executive Manager MICA, Mr. Clifton Riley; Director DITES, Mr. Denzil West; Director of Information & Communications, Ms. Nerissa Golden; Commissioner Financial Services Commission, Mrs. Dulcie James; Business Community, Dr. Sammy Joseph; Academic Community, Miss Gracelyn Cassell; Diaspora Community, Mr. Claude Hogan; Director ICT Secretariat, Chairman, Mrs. Claudia Skerritt until substantive appointment is made.
The five-year plan was designed by a national ICT Steering Committee along with a team from the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), who were on hand for the unveiling. Secretary General of the CTU Ms. Bernadette Lewis said she was very proud of the steps that Montserrat had been taken to advanced their vision to be a more connected and innovative nation.
“Montserrat is a model for the rest of the region and we are very pleased that we have been a part of this process,” Lewis said at the opening ceremony.
The ICT plan articulates the vision, policies, strategies, programmes and projects for short to medium term, ICT-enabled national development. Cleveland Thomas of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said not too many nations in the Caribbean have an ICT Plan. He commended the ministry and the CTU for designing a policy that was both practical and visionary and pledged the support of his organisation to see the manifestation of it over the coming years.
The cabinet recently approved the offer from Packet Clearing House (PCH) to place a Domain Name System root server (DNS) on Montserrat. PCH representative Bevil Wooding said having the server located on island, which is offered free of cost, would help to strengthen Montserrat’s Internet Infrastructure and remove unnecessary pressure on their fragile system.
Wooding also called for Montserrat as well as the region to focus more on creating its own innovative solutions to problems as simply copying what was being done in Europe, Singapore or the United States would not work.
“We can't keep looking to the usual suspects for salvation. The Caribbean has to create their own best practices as our situations are unique. They do not have the challenge of figuring out how to provide internet service to a population of less than 5000 and to do it effectively and affordable. These nations do not have the terrain challenges of Dominica.”
PCH, the CTU and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) are working collaboratively to install root servers in Caribbean countries with the appropriate facilities.
Other speakers during the day were John Curran of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN); the Honourable Attorney General Esco Henry; the Director of the Department for Information Technology and eGovernment Services (DITES) and Hans Fermin of FORTINET, Inc, a network security firm.
The executive summary of the National ICT Plan is now available on the Government of Montserrat website on www.gov.ms.
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