The Caribbean is getting ready for one of the biggest summits on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Americas, Connect the America Summit, in July, and so the CARICOM Secretariat spear-headed the third preparatory meeting in Barbados, on Tuesday, to cement the region’s plans for its participation.
Chaired by Jennifer Britton, Deputy Programme Manager for the ICT4D programme in the CARICOM Secretariat, the Third Preparatory Meeting of the Caribbean on the Connect the Americas Summit brought together senior ICT officials from several CARICOM member states and regional institutions related to ICTs to discuss updates on the summit, said a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen.
They also had to review the region’s input into the position paper and outcome document of the summit; develop a strategy for promoting the region’s participation in the summit; identify potential investors and sponsors for the summit and examine projects from member states that will be submitted at the summit.
To date, more than 45 projects have been registered on the ITU website: http: //www. itu.int/ITU-D/connect/americas/projects.asp.
In delivering brief remarks at the meeting, Britton noted that the community “still had a lot of work to do in order to connect our part of the world by 2015.” She pointed out that this flagship programme presented a remarkable opportunity for the Caribbean to boost its ICT capacity for sustainable and socio–economic development, particularly since the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government had approved in 2011, the Regional Digital Development Strategy.
According to Britton, the strategy formed a good basis for the many projects submitted to date for the summit since it provided harmonized and concerted efforts in the area of ICT. And she reminded member states that ICT is a priority for all in the region.
The Connect Americas Summit is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Panama. It forms part of ITU’s Connect the World series, an ambitious initiative launched in 2005 by the Secretary-General of ITU to connect the world by 2015.
