Honourable Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Telecommunications, Antigua and Barbuda, Dr Edward Manzoor
Representative of the European Commission, Ms. Celine Anselme
Delegates, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

A very pleasant good morning to you. It is my pleasure to make these brief opening remarks on behalf of the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM and to welcome you to Guyana and the Inaugural Meeting of the Regional ICT Steering Committee.

If the size of this Committee is of any significance, I feel assured that the Quality and Quantity of outputs will redound to the benefits of our Region. This is indeed a historic meeting and one which has been long in the making. This meeting assumes even greater importance as it is being convened on the eve of the first global observance of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. In fact, this Regional Committee was constituted in January 2005 at the first regional consultation to treat with the World Summit on the Information Society.

Indeed, the year 2005 was a landmark year for the Community. In 2005, the Heads of Government took a decision to complete, by specific deadlines, in 2005 and 2006 work on policy framework for freedom of access with respect to the market for both goods and services and freedom of movement and access with respect to the market for factors of production – capital, labour and land, and thereafter to focus on completion of the Single Economy – the ultimate stage of the regional economic integration process.

As a result of these decisions, the agenda of the Secretariat was focused for delivery on these outputs. This was also the year when the Region inaugurated the Caribbean Court of Justice which as you know is one of the pillars of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. In order to secure these pressing deliverables – the ICT Committee did not meet.

However, the time lost was not in vain – since it afforded us at the Secretariat the time to plan and to expand the original membership of the Committee from mainly an ICT focused group - to that of a first Regional Committee with a wide cross-section of membership which better mirrors the synergies required to continue the work of creating the Caribbean Information Society. This is a big difference.

Now, what is the fundamental objective of this exercise?

The Deputy Secretary General in her remarks at the regional meeting held in January 2005 pointed out that “the goal of CARICOM is to embrace ICT in the human and socio-economic enhancement of the Region, applying it in the conduct of daily living, in human resource development and in efforts of poverty alleviation.” The Deputy Secretary General further charged that the Region must work together, adding that plans must be made for creating solutions to the ICT setbacks facing Member States.

This is the challenge before us. This is our Mandate. As the Steering Committee we have the responsibility for designing and developing the road map for this task.

The formation and work of this Regional ICT Steering Committee are integral parts of a project that will aid the development of the Caribbean Information Society (CARIB-IS). It is not often that Committees start their job with resources in hand. Usually, part of the initial task is seeking funding. Money is no problem. The CARICOM Secretariat received Euro 2M for the project under the Ninth European Development Fund (EDF). I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank the European Union for the resources which helped to make this meeting a reality.

Your main function will be as a Regional `think-tank’ to consider information Society and ICT issues and to serve as an advisory body to the CARICOM/CARIFORUM Secretariat.

Your task will not be without challenges - since the Information and Communication technologies and Information Society issues which must be tackled are becoming increasingly complex and varied. In fact, the Committee must assist in the definition of the issues and its Work Programme.

The World Summit convened in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005 on the Information Society process has been instructive for us all and we have gained much from the dialogue and expanded participation of business and civil society. In addition, we have all gained from increased appreciation of our cultural differences and diverse national considerations.

You have all been carefully selected by your Member States and organisations to represent them on this important body. As individuals and representatives of Member States, your differences and fundamental common interests should not prevent your reaching consensus on issues for the advancement of all persons in our Region.

My sincere wish, for this and future meetings, is that you view the obvious challenges as opportunities to (1) work together for the common cause of ensuring that all the countries in our Region can reap the benefits of the Information Society and more importantly to continue the transformation of our traditional industries through the careful harnessing of ICT to help us develop our economies and to improve the quality of life of our people. Realization of the Global Information Society is anticipated by 2015, just eight short years from now – and the Caribbean, through your efforts and guidance, should ensure that it is one of the vanguard Regions in this process.

Let me remind you – we are not starting at the front of the race. In fact, we have much ground to cover to catch up to the leaders.

Finally, the information society can also help to ensure our security in the Region. Driven by the imperative to establish and protect a single domestic space embodying ten CARICOM States in order to host CWC 2007, most of CARICOM Member States were forced to implement specific security measures to secure the Region while facilitating the free movement of visitors and CARICOM citizens throughout the Region.

A visitor was able to enter the first point within the Single Domestic Space, with the usual required immigration clearance, and thereafter, to move relatively freely from country to country. To ensure the safety and security of the Region with this free movement, the Region put in place an Advanced Passenger Information Management System (APIS) which permitted law enforcement personnel to conduct security checks on everyone traveling through the Region. Our security agencies were able to ‘vet’ every traveler against various regional and international watch lists including Interpol’s terrorist watch list, CARICOM watch lists as well as America’s data bases.

A Joint Regional Coordinating Centre (JRCC) was established to perform this function and while 40,000 visas were issued, 1,100 were denied. Associated with the Joint Regional Clearing Centre (JRCC) is a Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre (RIFC). As the name suggests, this body provides a regional platform for the exchange of information and intelligence which has brought together intelligence practitioners from the international intelligence community to sit and work with their counterparts from CARICOM. This information and intelligence systems network was built on the existing Information and Communication Technology and will remain a lasting legacy of the CWC, and our sincere hope is that the Committee will be another one of those lasting legacies.

Let me encourage you to be diligent in your deliberations, positive in your contributions, respect the views of others, and acknowledge your full responsibility as a member of the Inaugural ICT Steering Committee to influence the Regional direction and achievements.

I wish the Meeting all success in its deliberations, and I thank you.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org