St John's, Antigua (TDN) -- Telecoms Ministers from the OECS will for the first time meet in Antigua for the 26th meeting of the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) council slated for October 4th to 5th at the Grand Royal Antiguan Resort.
During the meeting Antigua & Barbuda, which is not a Member of ECTEL, will sign a Declaration on Collaboration in Telecommunication that will give the country Observer Status going forward.
Agenda items by Antigua include a presentation to the OECS Ministers on the Government Assisted Technology Endeavour (GATE). Also, Antigua will present a model for consideration which will provide Governments with disaster recovery and business continuity opportunities for mission critical, information technology centric Government services.
These include IT platforms that Governments use on a regular basis e.g. border control, Government payroll, etc
Telecommunications Officer within the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology Clement Samuel said, “The Council of Ministers meeting will provide an opportunity for Antigua & Barbuda to develop closer functional and operational ties, and to share with the ECTEL members its vision as to how developments in technology, particularly broadband Internet, should be used to promote the uptake of affordable ICT’s for socio-economic development.”
The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) is the regulatory body for telecommunications in five Eastern Caribbean States— Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
ECTEL aims to create a fully liberalized telecommunications environment by promoting competition amongst service providers for the delivery of efficient and affordable telecommunications services to the people of ECTEL Member States by implementing applicable laws treaties and agreements through fair, transparent and independent processes.
ECTEL was established in May 2000 by Treaty and consists of a Council of Ministers (made up of the Ministers responsible for Telecommunications in the ECTEL states, and the Director General of the OECS), a regional Directorate (comprising one member and an alternate from each Member State and the Managing Director of ECTEL) and a National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) in each Member State.
