Connecting the Caribbean

Promoting e-governance – the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in order to improve access to information – in the Caribbean and Mediterranean will be addressed at a forthcoming workshop in St Lucia.

The workshop is being organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development Division (GIDD) and will take place from 10 to 14 December 2007.

About 30 participants – senior legal officers, ICT managers and policy-makers – will attend the five-day event at the Bay Gardens Hotel, Castries. It is being organised in collaboration with St Lucia’s Ministry of Public Service and Labour.

“The workshop aims to act as a catalyst for political and social transformation in the Caribbean region,” said Devindra Ramnarine, Adviser on Public Sector Informatics in GIDD.

“Today’s rapidly changing technology often creates unique and complex challenges for the public service. But in order to find appropriate solutions, public service officials need to understand the impact of technology and its effect on current and future telecommunication policy and law, before they can successfully implement e-governance projects,” he added.

RoseMarie-Rita Endeley, Adviser, Caribbean and Mediterranean Region, in GIDD said: "The workshop will review the challenges encountered by Commonwealth Caribbean member countries in implementing ICT projects. Lessons and experiences will be drawn from similar projects in the European Union, and other Commonwealth countries such as Singapore and Malta to highlight how best to integrate e-governance within the public sector, and the laws needed to support such initiatives."

Discussions will address how to combat cyber-crime, the protection of intellectual property rights and privacy, adoption of e-procurement, and compliance.

Key Links:

• Governance
• Country Profile: St Lucia