The Caribbean Telecommunications Union Road Show is rolling through
Belize this week. It started today under the theme “harnessing the power
of innovation- the engine for ICT-enabled Caribbean development.” That’s
a mouthful but suffice to say it’s all about information and communication
technology. In Belize that’s a remote and distant prospect for a large
section of the population and Bernadette Lewis, the Secretary General of the
CTU explained that access to the internet and useful information is the priority.
Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General – CTU
“Affordable access, affordable access and then when you’re reached
that stage of affordable access the next question you ask yourself is now that
we have access, what we are we going to do with this and that next question
has to be answered comprehensively and the structure and processes must be put
in place so that the access is beneficial. So you don’t just want to give
people access to the internet but you want to give them access to the right
sorts of information that will help them advance their cause.
If you are just going to give them access so they could just look and see
what the film stars in North America, that doesn’t help them. You want
to beneficial use of the technology. One of things we are actively promoting
is a need for fundamental change in mindsets. All those processes we have used
for the last hundred years, they cannot be applied to the technology and you
get the benefit of the technology. It calls for a different kind of thinking,
new approaches and if you continue trying to do things the way you’ve
been doing it for the last hundred years with the new technology, you’re
not going to see the benefits.”
Jules Vasquez,
“If the Caribbean as a region is unable to make this great leap forward,
it will never inevitable lag behind other trading blocs.”
Bernadette Lewis,
“They will be failed states.”
While today was mostly talk – tomorrow – the “show”
component of the road show kicks in with local companies demonstrating how they
are using information and communications technology.
Email
Print