| Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organizations (CANTO), held its 23rd Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition at the Sherbourne Conference Centre, St. Michael, Ba rbados, from June 24 to 27. The event was co-hosted by Cable and Wireless Barbados.
A premier calendar event in the telecommunications industry internationally, the event lived up to its rich tradition of showcasing the latest technologies. It also provided a forum for vigorous debates on key issues facing regional telecoms providers.
 From the opening event on the Sunday afternoon, it was clear that the issues would be engaging. The feature address was delivered by Honorable Mia A. Mottley, Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados and Minister of Economic Affairs and Development. The conference theme “Leading Connectivity Through ICT’s” provided her with an appropriate launch pad from which to enunciate her message of fostering regional eco-nomic development and furthering the move towards a harmonized single economic space – The Caribbean Single Market and Economy, using information and communication technology (ICT ) as a key enabler. Her familiarity with the issues and eloquent delivery captivated the audience. Honorable Mia A. Mottley, Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados and Minister of Economic Affairs and Development. She challenged participants and CANTO in particular, to partner with other regional bodies such as Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), to develop a framework to use regional investments in ICT, to drive the move-ment towards regional integration. The audience was treated to “a taste of Barbados”, the music of The Mighty Gabby, and a cultural presentation by Pinelands Creative Workshop. The stilt walkers delighted with their dexterity.  The Official Opening Ceremony was attended by several other government ministers, from the region. It was followed by a ribbon cutting cere-mony to signal the opening of the exhibition.
There were about seventy exhibition booths showcasing a wide range of cutting edge telecommunications products and solutions from around the world. This gave delegates a unique Participants at the Opening Ceremony opportunity to connect.
Equipment manufacturers were able to meet equipment users. There was a competition for the best exhibit which was won by NORTEL. The deliberations started on Monday. The keynote speaker was Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General ITU. The Secretary General spoke to the issue of human resource being a key leveling factor in leveraging ICT development to foster economic development. He also gave the audience an insight into the three key areas he intends to focus on during his tenure as ITU Secretary General.
 He listed these as (1) bridging the digital divide (2) cyber security and (3) emergency services. Dr. Touré was followed by ministerial panel. The panel had repre-sentatives from seven regional governments - Hon Mia Mottley, Minister of Economic Affairs & Development, Barbados, Hon. Dr. Jerrold Thompson, Minister of Telecommunications, Science and Technology, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Hon. Reginald Austrie ,Ministry of Housing, Lands, Telecom, Energy and Posts, Dominica, Hon Edmond Mansoor, Minister of Telecommunications, Antigua, Hon. Errol Gentle, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Utilities, Belize, Hon. Richel Apinsa , Minister of Transport, Communications and Tourism, Suriname
The issues addressed were as varied as the panel. Minister Mottley elaborated on her earlier theme that regional telecoms organizations such as CANTO and CTU should lead the charge to develop a framework to allow telecommunications to progress the development of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. She went as far as suggesting a timeframe of next year for this framework to be put before The Heads of Government.
Minister Thompson, spoke about the social responsibilities of regional telecoms providers. He challenged the providers to look at issues such as in-country roaming, maritime communications, access to local and regional pro-gramming and access to at least one local station in each member country.
Minister Austrie said that internet was being used in education applications. However, growth in entrepreneurship has not kept pace with developments in telecommunications. He felt there was a need for lower rates in order to increase the level of broadband penetration. Minister Mansoor continued on the theme broadband affordability. He said there is direct correlation between broadband penetration and GDP, intelligence and poverty reduction. He expressed the view that the poor were pay-ing more for technology.
Minister Gentle from Belize spoke to the market situation in that country, in particular, the impact that unlicensed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operators is having on that market. Minister Apinsa of Suriname also spoke to the state of market liberalization in her country and gave a view of how Suriname plans to transform itself into an information society. This was indeed an “infofest” to coin a new phrase. Some forty presenters spoke on a wide range of current issues such as:- Enhancing quality of life through ICT.
Exploiting ICT for retail and enhancing the quality of life experience. The use of ICT for Disaster Recovery and Management Emerging Telecommunications Policy and Regulatory Issues Future Network Trends
New and Emerging Technologies The conference was attended by over 550 participants from over 40 countries including countries as far away as India.
At the start of the conference CANTO’s membership was 89; it ended with 101, demonstrating that it is a truly dynamic organization, in a truly dynamic industry. As several of the speakers noted, CANTO has a unique space in the industry, its challenge going forward, is to use that position, history and legacy to foster greater and more effec-tive use of ICT to empower the forty million people of the region, and to spur regional economic growth.
1st Annual HR Training and Best Practices Conference
The First Annual Human Resource Training and Best Practices forum was held by the Caribbean Association of Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO) from the 28th-29th of June 2007. The conference was a huge success with over 40 participants in the field of Human Resources (HR) from 14 of the member countries of CANTO. The objectives included collecting and sharing of HR and Training best practices per Caribbean operator and devel-oping relationships with Caribbean Operators’ HR and training professionals facing similar challenges through a wide variety of networking activities. The conference was opened by the Secretary General of CANTO, Ms Regenie Fräser and the Chairman of CANTO, Mr. Leon Williams. Ms Melissa Harris of Telecoms Training Corporation chaired the event, which included guest speakers in the disciplines of HR Policy and Change Management. The 16 modules presented were thought provoking and insightful and included topics such as Redundancy/Right Sizing in a Competitive Environment to Best Practices on Change Management. The confer-ence was organized with a difference; Participants were placed in a group setting to discuss their experiences in regards to HR policies. This was the highlight of the program as the participants were then able to discuss simi-larities and differences and provide support to each other as to best practices implemented in their respective com-panies. The participants were further encouraged to employ some of the practices learned at the end of each mod-ule through summarization and repetition. The Human Resource Training and Best Practices Conference is an added benefit to CANTO members and will be held annually. 
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