(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  Three of the Sub-Committees of the Regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Steering Committee will begin next week to formulate a Draft Implementation Plan for the recently developed Draft Regional ICT Strategy.

The week-long meetings of the sub-committees will be convened in Trinidad and Tobago from Monday 25 October and will discuss issues pertaining to Access, Connectivity and Internet Governance; Business, Trade, Culture and Disaster Management; and Capacity Building.

CONSIDERED the biggest ever expansion of access to computers in Guyana, Government’s one laptop per family project is scheduled to begin rolling out within the next three months, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo. Speaking at the opening of GuyExpo, the Head of State explained that the initiative is in keeping with his administration’s efforts to ensure all Guyanese are equipped “for the modern world” with services that include call centres, regional hosting opportunities, data for disaster recovery facilities, subscriber bandwidth services, telemedicine and distance learning.

HARARE – “The responsibility to exercise ethical leadership rests with every sector of society and a new architecture of leadership has to evolve if developing countries are to take their place in the rapidly evolving future.” This was the view expressed by international leadership development expert, Dr. Noel Woodroffe, President and founder of Trinidad-based nonprofit Congress WBN (C-WBN) in Zimbabwe last week.

His remarks came at the “C-WBN Forum for Ethical Nations Development” hosted by C- WBN in Harare. The unique Forum focused on strategies for economic development & social transformation through Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The team from Trinidad and Tobago presented practical models and examples from the Caribbean and across the globe to an audience of over 120 persons at the two-day event. The C-WBN event coincided with the ICT Africa 2010 Exhibition but was held at a separate venue from the Ministry of ICT’s organized sessions and Exhibition.

INFORMATION minister Daryl Vaz says that iMap Jamaica, the Internet application that gives information on every single registered parcel of land in Jamaica, will help to transform business on the island.

iMap service is provided by the National Land Agency in partnership with Global Insurance Company. The service is targeted at the insurance industry, land surveyors, realtors, land developers and spatial data professionals.

PORT OF PRINCE - A two-day roundtable discussion on the best way forward for the reconstruction of Haiti’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector is expected to see a framework put in place that is capable of meeting the current challenges.

Yesterday, representatives from various organisations met at the Hilton Barbados to attend the event coordinated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the government of Haiti.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, in giving the opening address, told those gathered for the meeting, including Haiti’s Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications, Jacques Gabriel and ITU Secretary General, Dr Hamadoun I. Toure, that the complexity of the task of reconstruction could not be underestimated.

UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, campus Principal Clem Sankat, unveiled a US$70 laptop computer that might fulfil the Government’s promise of a laptop to each Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam pupil.

Bridgetown, Barbados Monday May 17, 2010 – (CDEMA) – The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) launched its public portal for information on disaster management  www.weready.org, at a presentation of a suite of tools and products on earthquake readiness and tsunami and other coastal hazards preparedness.

MANDEVILLE, Jamaica (JIS) -- As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) will be staging a regional Caribbean Information and Communication Technology (ICT) road show.

The Jamaica leg of the road show was launched on Wednesday under the theme, 'Harnessing the power of innovation - the engine for ICT-enabled Caribbean Development'.

The aim of the road show is to raise awareness within the public sector, the private sector, civil society and academia of the innovative approaches necessary for the effective use of ICT in government, business and social development.