Kingston, Jamaica, July 20, 2010 – The Jamaica government is focusing on the rollout of a broadband backbone in the short-term to ensure adequate connectivity throughout the island.

Minister with Responsibility for Information, Telecommunications and Special Projects, Daryl Vaz, says the move is in keeping with the government’s Vision 2030 National Development Plan, which designates information and communications technology (ICT) as a priority area for development as a major industry and an enabler for all other sectors.

"This is a critical strategy for becoming efficient, effective and more productive in the private and public sectors as well as for increasing our international competitiveness," he said.

Vaz was speaking at a Caribbean ICT conference organised by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU). The two day-conference, which ended on Tuesday, was the culmination of a series of road shows held at major towns across the island.

The Jamaican minister has encouraged members of CARICOM to share common visions, and work steadfastly to ensure that, through rapid deployment and application of ICT, an enabling business environment for investment is provided, education and training is of world class standard, and "that our societies are healthy, secure, cohesive and that we deliver to the people of the Caribbean, effective governance."

Secretary General of the CTU, Bernadette Lewis, said that the road show is designed to promote a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the development of ICT-based practical solutions to educate, demonstrate and encourage adoption of innovation for inclusive economic and social development, and lay a foundation on which knowledge-based societies and economies may be built.

"ICTs give us the power to connect people, to process information, to enable us to interact, to engender collective responses from people all across the globe. It gives us the power to potentially connect to every other individual across the face of the earth. That is the power we have available to us today, literally at our fingertips," she said, as she implored countries to embrace and exploit these technologies responsibly, safely and efficiently.

The CTU, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is a Caribbean inter-governmental organisation dedicated to facilitating the development of the regional telecommunications sector.