Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations
(CANTO) held its 24th Annual Telecommunications Conference and Trade
Exhibition on Connect the Caribbean from the 13th - 16th
July 2008. The event took place at the beautiful and scenic Atlantis
Hotel, in Paradise Island, Bahamas and was hosted by the National
Telecommunications Provider, Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).
The Conference was attended by well over 680 delegates, ten
Ministers of Government from around the region and other invited guests
from The Bahamas. The theme of this year’s event was “CANTO"- Caribbean
Unity through Connectivity and was centered on the Connect the Caribbean
(CTC) Initiative of CANTO. The
Connect the Caribbean Initiative is the Caribbean’s response to the
“Connect the World Initiative”, consistent with the framework of Connect
the World project of the ITU. The project will function as a partnership
to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources required to
bridge major gaps in ICT infrastructure development, enabling a
harmonized policy framework and developing relevant and affordable
services and applications
Day one opened with the CANTO committee meetings as well as the Board of
Directors meeting. The five (Marketing and Communications, Financial
Advisory, New and Emerging Technology, Human Resource and Disaster
Recovery Planning) committees took the time to discuss CANTO’s current
affairs, their role in the Connect the Caribbean Initiative as well as
prepare for the CANTO new financial year 08/09.
A press conference was held at the Atlantis hotel and included CANTO
Board of Directors, the Secretary General of CANTO, Mr. Kirk Griffin -
CEO of BTC, Marlon Johnson - Vice President Sales & Marketing BTC and
members of the media.
Mr Ian Blanchard acting Chairman of the Board welcomed the Members of
the press and the delegates of CANTO 2008 and highlighted what was to be
expected of the four agenda packed days.
The keynote speaker, Mr. Frederick Morton of Tempo Networks also
made a presentation of a Tempo gift package to the winner of the WTISD
Essay competition, Ms Celeste Augustine and encouraged her on her
positive educational trek.
The press conference was soon followed by the grand opening of the
conference where the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,
The Rt. Hon Hubert A. Ingraham M.P. welcomed the delegates to the
Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Hon Ingraham in his speech to the delegates
highlighted the role that ICT plays and how the operators and suppliers
could assist the Connect the Caribbean initiative.
In true Bahamian style the opening was greeted with much pomp and flavor
with a cultural display of music, poetry and ‘junkanoo' (a Bahamian
carnival type dance). The
Exhibition hall was declared opened by the Prime Minister of the Bahamas
and the ribbon was cut by the 2008 WTISD winner Ms.Celeste Augustine.
The exhibition hall included over
85 booths displaying the exhibitor’s goods and services from around the
world. The exhibitors had an opportunity to network, display and
demonstrate their products to operators.
As an added incentive the Exhibitors booths were judged on that
evening for the covetous award of “Best Exhibit” based on visual impact,
organization, innovation, technological excellence and the value of the
exhibit; the winner of the award for the Best Exhibit went to Ericsson.
To end the evening on a high note the delegates were then treated
to a welcome cocktail reception sponsored by BTC.
Day two of CANTO 2008 opened with a Ministerial breakfast sponsored by
Cable & Wireless Barbados. The meeting was targeted to Ministers and CTC
partners aimed at highlighting the current position of the CTC and its
future direction.
Board Director Ms Glenda Medford highlighted CANTOs role in regards to
leading the Caribbean agenda and defining the vision.
Ms Bernadette Lewis the Secretary
General of CTU also highlighted the role of the Caribbean Government in
regards to the CTC project.
The Ministers
/CANTO Members/ CEO’s Roundtable discussions on Connect the Caribbean
was addressed by featured speaker Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary
General of ITU. Dr. Touré detailed the Connect the World imitative of
the ITU and the role of the CANTO Connect the Caribbean Initiative.
Keynote speaker Mr. Frederick Morton of TEMPO Networks LLC
highlighted the role of ICT and the media
and its impact on the youth. Dr.
Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Chief Executive Officer CTO introduced the PPPP
(Public Private People’s Partnership). The program continued with the
roundtable discussions by the ministers of government in the ICT sector.
Day three and
four included speakers addressing issues such as: enhancing
competitiveness in the Caribbean through harmonization, IPTV, leveraging
IT for business transformation strategy and broadband access among other
thought provoking topics. In the
Connect the Caribbean session, all the regional organizations expressed
support for the CTC Initiative and the CANTO Board decided to work with
CARICOM to integrate CANTO activities with CARICOMs ICT Agenda.
CANTO 2008 came to a close on Wednesday evening; the Secretary General
of CANTO Ms Regenie Fräser and Chairman of the CANTO Board of Directors,
Mr Ian Blanchard made a presentation to the CEO of BTC of a trophy of
appreciation for being the Host of the CANTO 2008. All the members on
the CANTO 2008 BTC team were also presented with a token of appreciation
from the CANTO Board of Directors for their dedication and assistance of
CANTO 2008.
As customary, Ms Regenie Fräser announced the venue for 2009 AGM which
will be held in Antigua & Barbuda co-hosted by Cable & Wireless Antigua
& Barbuda and Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA).
CANTO 2009 ‘the 25th jubilee’ will be held in the
home of the Secretariat, Trinidad & Tobago, and will be co-hosted by
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad & Tobago (TSTT).
Immediately following CANTO 2008 was the second Annual Human Resource
Training and Best Practices forum which
was held from the 17th – 18th of July 2008 at the Atlantis.
The conference was a huge
success with over 30 participants in the field of Human Resources from
the different member countries of CANTO.
For more information on CANTO 2008 visit
http://www.canto.org/canto2008/
The CANTO
Secretariat is pleased to advise that a full
Report of CANTO 2008 may be
accessed via the link above from August 8th 2008.