Minister Hughes attending C/bean Ministerial Seminar on New Technologies to overcome old challenges
Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Press Statement – Thursday, September 27, 2018
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, is representing Guyana this week at the Caribbean Telecommunication Union’s 17th Ministerial ICT Strategic Seminar at the St. Kitts Marriott. Minister Hughes had the distinction of being the first presenter on Wednesday 24th September on the topic: ‘Connecting Remote and sparsely populated communities’. The overall theme of the seminar is: New Technologies for Overcoming old Challenges.
It was not by accident that Guyana was selected to set the tone for this 2-day seminar. Minister Hughes took the opportunity to apprise her counterparts from all over the Caribbean about Guyana’s new ICT Access and eServices Connectivity Project for Hinterland, Poor and Remote Communities (HPRC) which is already underway. This project was conceived in 2016 by the Government of Guyana in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is being executed by the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) and will be managed by the UNDP and the Project Board.
The CTU’s Ministerial seminar now underway was designed to address the United Nation’s 2016 e-Government Development Index (EGDI) survey which had surmised that the Caribbean “needs to critically examine its e-Government performance, which in a global context, is lagging”.
According to that analysis, the Caribbean countries examined have considerably less developed e-Government structures than the top ranked countries, and that only six are within the top 100 ranked countries. The CTU said that its mission is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of e-Government services delivery to citizens all across the Caribbean.
This week’s seminar also features presentations by ICT Ministers of Governments in Anguilla, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
Captains of Private sector industries are also present and discussing the many ways to create enabling environments for companies to convert easily to modern technologies. They are also examining the downside of ICT with Trinidadian Psychologist, Dr. Dianne Douglas, making a presentation titled, “Technology – the New Nicotine of the 21st Century”. Executive Director of the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Codel Green, spoke about fake news and other challenges.
The two-day Ministerial seminar is closing out St. Kitts and Nevis’ ICT week being held from 24th to 28th September. The theme for the Week is “21st Century Government – Enhancing Connections…Accelerating Progress”.