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The Honourable Kennedy Swaratsingh Minister of Public Administration of The Government of Trinidad and Tobago and President of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, was present at the launch of the Caribbean ICT Road Show in Grenada to give welcome remarks. Read the full text of the speech
The Caribbean ICT Road Show has been developed as part of Connected Caribbean, an initiative of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union to raise awareness within the public sector, the private sector, civil society, and academia of the possible innovative approaches required for the effective use of ICT in government, business, and social development.
Minister Swaratsingh praised the CTU for it's work in developing and spearheading the ICT Road Show as part of its programme of activities to commemorate this significant milestone its 20th Anniversary.
The minister also recognized the seriousness of the need for a regional intervention such as the ICT Road Show:
"The purpose of this present effort is to raise the awareness of the importance of information and communications technologies (ICT) in national and regional development. This is critical. Without the fullest possible deployment of ICT, our countries would not attain those levels of efficiency and productivity that are required for progress in today’s world."
He noted that the Digital Divide that we can clearly see in the world today is an accurate way of describing gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.
"But", he said, " ICT still presents one of the best chances we have had so far to overcome the impediments placed on us by size and history; and to propel our region into international contention through the maximization of our endowments. Indeed it has already been proven that ICT can help developing countries leapfrog certain traditionally accepted stages of development and in this way bring themselves into the faster lane of progress and prosperity for all their people."
While Minister Swaratsingh noted the challenges that Caribbean nations face in applying the necessary investment towards development in the ICT field, he ended with a charge to all present:
The Caribbean must not be left behind. This Roadshow will certainly help to increase awareness of both our opportunities and responsibilities. The entire region must wake up to the possibilities that are now before us. Both the present and the future depend on it. On behalf of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, I wish this Caribbean ICT Roadshow every success.
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