ICT conference addresses economic issues
Wednesday March 08 2006
by Nikisha Smith
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) regional conference at Jolly Harbour has had an encouraging beginning, attacking some of the problems which affect all Caribbean countries.
The conference, entitled, “ICT and the networked economy-training for the new economy,” is a collaboration of the Centre for International Services, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Manager of Research & Development at the Centre for International Services Roderick Sanatan, spoke to the SUN about the progress the group, of about thirty, have made so far.
He said, yesterday, they had started to look at particular areas that impact on their ICT’s main network and have spent time looking at the multi-lateral system arrangements in the WTO (World Trade Organisation), mainly looking at how to shape each country’s needs.
Sanatan said they are hoping to examine the case studies of various firms and countries, which would hopefully connect their ICT experiences with the economy and the resultant benefits.
“What we set out to do basically, was to try to get a sense from the countries as to where they were at in terms of developing ICT’s in the overall economy in different sectors of production and it was interesting to see the variety of experiences, some similar, some very different. We can clearly learn from each other,” Sanatan stated.
In terms of the objectives of the conference, he hoped that in the end, the participants can propose or recommend interventions for policies that will allow the mainstreaming of ICT’s into the economy.
Their second day started with a presentation from Esteban Perez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC) on trade competitiveness in services.
Perez pointed out that many Caribbean countries have shifted their economic structure away from production to services, but there is not enough dynamism.
He recognised that small economies do not diversify as much but concentrate in specific areas, like tourism.
Sanatan, in this connection, explained the goals of the centre.
“What we are trying to do is simply assess what are those challenges in terms of the internal conditions, what are the challenges forced by the external environment and seeing whether people can move towards a kind of niche area.”
Developing that niche means, he said, countries have to develop a kind of knowledge based training capability, which will impact on policy, both for the firms that will trade and the governments that will be enabling policies around them.
The conference ends on 17 March.
© SUN Printing & Publishing LTD 2003-2004.
Wednesday March 08 2006
by Nikisha Smith
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) regional conference at Jolly Harbour has had an encouraging beginning, attacking some of the problems which affect all Caribbean countries.
The conference, entitled, “ICT and the networked economy-training for the new economy,” is a collaboration of the Centre for International Services, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Manager of Research & Development at the Centre for International Services Roderick Sanatan, spoke to the SUN about the progress the group, of about thirty, have made so far.
He said, yesterday, they had started to look at particular areas that impact on their ICT’s main network and have spent time looking at the multi-lateral system arrangements in the WTO (World Trade Organisation), mainly looking at how to shape each country’s needs.
Sanatan said they are hoping to examine the case studies of various firms and countries, which would hopefully connect their ICT experiences with the economy and the resultant benefits.
“What we set out to do basically, was to try to get a sense from the countries as to where they were at in terms of developing ICT’s in the overall economy in different sectors of production and it was interesting to see the variety of experiences, some similar, some very different. We can clearly learn from each other,” Sanatan stated.
In terms of the objectives of the conference, he hoped that in the end, the participants can propose or recommend interventions for policies that will allow the mainstreaming of ICT’s into the economy.
Their second day started with a presentation from Esteban Perez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC) on trade competitiveness in services.
Perez pointed out that many Caribbean countries have shifted their economic structure away from production to services, but there is not enough dynamism.
He recognised that small economies do not diversify as much but concentrate in specific areas, like tourism.
Sanatan, in this connection, explained the goals of the centre.
“What we are trying to do is simply assess what are those challenges in terms of the internal conditions, what are the challenges forced by the external environment and seeing whether people can move towards a kind of niche area.”
Developing that niche means, he said, countries have to develop a kind of knowledge based training capability, which will impact on policy, both for the firms that will trade and the governments that will be enabling policies around them.
The conference ends on 17 March.
© SUN Printing & Publishing LTD 2003-2004.
