(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Deputy Secretary General Her Excellency Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite reiterated the critical role of CARICOM institutions in the development of the Community through functional cooperation.

Addressing the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) Ministerial Strategic Briefing Seminar, held on 28 February 2008 in Bermuda, Ambassador Applewhaite underscored the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in functional cooperation, noting that the telecommunications sector had emerged as a dominant force in driving development and would assist in providing the Community’s human resources with the necessary tools to build and sustain their society.

Treating with the topic: Functional Integration: A Caribbean Imperative for Development, the CARICOM Deputy Secretary General noted that since broadcast information culture was one of the modalities of functional cooperation “it is the telecommunications sector which can and must play a determining role in the success of functional co-operation as a means of ensuring not only sustainable development of our Region but fulfilling the goal of “A Community for All.”

Reminding the CTU of its mandate as established in 1989 by the Conference of Heads of Government, the Deputy Secretary General challenged the CTU to ensure that it completed its work in pivotal areas that were outstanding on its agenda: “The harmonisation of the telecommunications policy framework in member countries; the need for comprehensive direction with regard to spectrum use and management; and the need for sustained Caribbean input in major international telecommunications issues are areas which stand out on CTU’s agenda.”

However, the Deputy Secretary General emphasized that the resolution of those issues required a high level of functional cooperation in the telecommunications sector.

The ultimate goal of regional development through functional cooperation according to Ambassador Applewhaite was ensuring that the benefits of the Community were equitably distributed among its members, therefore, “functional co-operation in the telecommunications sector is a must and would contribute enormously to enhancing the level of integration and development in the Region.”

“For how else are we going to share policies and programmes, disseminate information, develop our human resources regionally and monitor and evaluate the progress of our integration movement but through the platform of telecommunications and ICT?” the Deputy Secretary General asserted.

She further charged the CTU that their role as members of the Caribbean Community was therefore “important and pivotal. The Region will rely on your counsel and advice as it seeks the timely implementation of the CSME and of the information Society.”