A Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Information and Communication Technology will be held in Barbados on 21 September, 2016.

The meeting will focus on the Draft Roadmap for the CARICOM Single ICT Space which is to be approved by Heads of Government. At their Regular Meeting in July in Georgetown, Guyana, the CARICOM Heads of Government mandated the COTED (ICT) to convene before the end of September.

Developing a Single CARICOM ICT Space to enhance the environment for investment and production in that sector was identified as one of the key areas that the Community should undertake in the short-term to become competitive.

Intense focus to bring the Single ICT Space to fruition began in 2014 and continues through its placement in the CARICOM Strategic Plan as a critical enabler towards achieving technological resilience.

The characteristics of the Single ICT Space include consistent regulations across the Region, a single mobile numbering plan and consequent removal of roaming charges for intra-Regional calls, and CARICOM Copyrights, which could foster renewed entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Single ICT Space Roadmap is expected to guide on the priorities of: establishing a Regional ICT sector, making citizens more ICT-literate, cyber-security and privacy. The Roadmap was drafted by institutions and specialist agencies and experts of the Community.

The Special Meeting is being convened as part of the Barbados ICT Week being co-hosted by the Government of Barbados and the CTU.