PRESS RELEASE, February 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CANTO’s 29th AGM & Mini Expo Climaxes with the Launch of the CANTO/IDB Broadband Infrastructure Inventory and Public Awareness in the Caribbean (BIIPAC) Project Launch

Amidst the buzz and hype of the popular annual Carnival festivities of Trinidad & Tobago, CANTO and Telecommunications Services of Trinidad & Tobago (TSTT) successfully co-hosted CANTO’s 29th Annual General Meeting (AGM) & Mini Expo at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. This year the event was held under the theme “Towards a smart Broadband Caribbean”, from the 4th -7th February, 2013.  The four day event focused on the AGM proceedings of CANTO and launch of the CANTO/IDB Broadband Infrastructure Inventory & Public Awareness in the Caribbean (BIIPAC) project.

The official opening was addressed by Hon. Nizam Baksh, Minister of Public Utilities, Mr. Cornell Bukradee on behalf of Dr. the Hon. Rupert Griffith, Minister of Science and Technology- Trinidad & Tobago; Dirk Currie, Chairman of CANTO; Karen Bevans, Vice Chair of CANTO and Secretary General of CANTO, Ms. Regenie Fräser.

The Speakers addressed the delegates on the theme and urged all to focus their attention on driving the knowledgeability, infrastructure and regulatory framework required for a ubiquitous broadband society to foster economic development in the Caribbean.

The 29th AGM saw the approval of the Secretariat Report of 2012 including the following eight (8) areas of   concentration for the 2013 financial year:

1.   Membership Growth
2.   Stakeholder Satisfaction
3.   Brand Visibility and Strength
4.   Communication and Knowledge Sharing
5.   Financial Stability
6.   Strengthening Working Committees
7.   Implementation of BIIPAC Project
8.   Restructuring Secretariat

The five working committees namely, Marketing and Communication, Human Resources, Regulation & Emerging Technologies, Financial Advisory and Disaster Recovery Planning also identified core activities for the organization in 2013.

During the AGM proceedings, Dirk Currie, Chairman (Telesur-Suriname), Karen Bevans, Vice Chair (BTL- Belize) and Helma Etnel (Telem – St. Maarten) were re-elected to the Board

Continuing on the board are  directors Davison Charles, Treasurer (Cable & Wireless Antigua), Lawrence McNaughton( Cable & Wireless Grenada), Lyrio Gomez( UTS-Curacao), E J. Saunders (Digicel Turks & Caicos), Julian Wilkins (Digicel Trinidad & Tobago) and Charles Carter (TSTT) who  replaced recently retired Linus Rogers  as TSTT’s representative.

The second Mini Expo featured a few major ICT suppliers who offered in-depth information on the latest developments in voice, data, and image, e-Content and multimedia.

On the heels of the AGM was the launch of the CANTO/IDB BIIPAC project, which aims to support the design of national broadband strategies in the Caribbean and to identify the regional aspects that need to be incorporated into these strategies to support the Caribbean region as it evolves towards universality in broadband access and service, regardless of the location (ubiquity) or the social strata (equity). The participating countries are the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, Suriname and Guyana, and the timeframe is 18-24 months.

The many governmental representatives, operators, regional organizations, regulators, suppliers, universities and other stakeholders present, got very involved in shaping the scope of the project and its proposed governance. The IDB also presented on the nature of its broadband work in the region, indicating the Bank’s willingness to partner further with the region for development initiatives. The meeting closed with commitment from the attendants to work together towards accelerating the penetration rate and usage of broadband services for the socio-economic development of the region.
For more information visit Http://Www.Canto.Org/Agm/Index.Php/Agmdoccanto-Idb-Broadband-Project

CANTO’s 29th AGM & Mini Expo was sponsored by TSTT (Blink – Bmobile), Digicel, Huawei, Syniverse, Illuminat, Jhullian Graphics and Trinidad & Tobago Convention Bureau. The BIIPAC project is funded by the IDB and executed by CANTO.
For more information visit Www.Canto.Org/Agm