St Vincent PM wants new legislation to strengthen ICT sector

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) – A three-day workshop examining technology and telecommunications issues in the Eastern Caribbean began in St Vincent on Monday with Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves underscoring the need to enact legislation to develop the sector in the sub-region.

Gonsalves told delegates from Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and the host country, St Vincent and the Grenadines that he hoped the conference would examine possible draft legislation that would reflect the current technological needs of the region.

“I really am looking forward to you moving swiftly  and to present me with a draft bill which I can subject a study, have the officials in the Ministry of Legal Affairs…look at it carefully and to have it out for public discussion.

“But I don’t want you to have this seminar and deliver the bill for me five years hence, because by then you will have to deliver a different bill for me because technology would have made several of your assumptions obsolete. So speed is of the essence,” Gonsalves added.

The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), said the conference would discuss various technology development issues, including broadband quality of service, consumer protection, Internet Exchange Points, and Internet neutrality.

The workshop is being held in partnership with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), under the umbrella of the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (CARCIP).