Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to join you for the 4th edition of this important Public Policy Group Forum for the Caribbean region.
The COVID crisis has highlighted just how much we have come to rely on the internet as the foundation for a host of essential public services.
The impact of the pandemic on Small Island States has been particularly brutal, not only because so many are highly dependent on tourism, but also because economic shocks of such magnitude are especially difficult to manage for small economies.
As the pandemic continues to rage, it is clear that COVID is not the short-lived health crisis we had all hoped last year. Instead, it has emerged as a uniquely powerful game-changer – and one whose enduring effects on the digital sector will perhaps be felt most keenly of all.
During last year's Global Symposium for Regulators we were reminded that failing to connect the other half of humanity to the internet will mean abandoning the pledge we made when we signed up to the SDGs, a mere six years ago.
The UN Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation emphasizes the central role that technology needs to play in global development. In this final Decade of Action, connectivity is increasingly recognized as the basic foundational element of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, so that, today, 'leaving no one behind' must mean 'leaving no one offline'.
But if digital is fast emerging as the 'new normal' for our post-pandemic world, what will that mean for the island nations of the Caribbean region?
In development terms, the Caribbean is a diverse region which nonetheless boasts generally high levels of digital penetration. Its many Small Island Developing States also have their own particular needs and challenges, from connecting widely dispersed communities to mitigating the ever-present threat that extreme weather events pose to communities and the communications infrastructure they rely on.
This is a region which has worked hard to prioritize digital development, and this commitment is bearing fruit. The Caribbean single ICT Space is an excellent example of a regional initiative that is already generating positive effects in fostering economic, social and cultural integration and improving the lives of all Caribbean citizens.
Many Caribbean countries have also been notching up solid achievements in extending broadband connectivity. Every Caribbean island nation is now connected to at least two high-speed submarine cables. This is encouraging, but challenges remain.
The events of the past year and a half have injected new urgency into our need to identify innovative financing models to support faster network roll-out and help countries upgrade to 5G. COVID has also thrown a spotlight other urgent digital development priorities, including digital skills development, digital learning, digital health platforms, and more.
The shape of the future remains so uncertain – but what really is certain, I think, is that post-COVID, if it can be digital, it must be digital.
So if there is one key message that I would like you all to take away when I finish my talk today, it is that ITU is here to help you formulate your digital development strategies, and to assist you in building bridges to new partners, whether they be other governments, traditional telcos, OTT platform providers – or even partners from other sectors, like energy and financial services.
We are already working with many Caribbean countries on a wide range of digital transformation issues, from smart cities, e-agriculture and mobile payments, to e-government, connected health care, online learning, and more.
We have a new project to promote the use of digital communication to deliver content to make populations more resilient in times of crisis, and capable of managing misinformation and mitigating mental health challenges. The campaign will be piloted in Barbados for further replication.
We are also working on developing digital Agriculture strategies for Trinidad and Tobago, and seeking to explore possibilities for Smart Islands in countries such as Guyana and others.
Of course, understanding what an urgent priority emergency communications is for each and every Caribbean nation, we continue to support countries in preparedeness and response. We have adapted our guidelines to include epidemic preparedness, and have supported Dominican Republic and Saint Lucia to develop National Emergency Telecommunication Plans.
These plans can save lives, and can also significantly mitigate the impact of local catastrophes. I do want to encourage more Caribbean states to reach out to us and take advantage of our expertise in this field, our guidelines, as well as our capacity development in this area which included tabletop simulations.
Our partnership with regional bodies including CITEL, CTU, CANTO and the International Amateur Radio Union to set up an alternative telecommunication system for use in times of emergency will eventually help 14 countries improve their disaster response, with the Dominican Republic already connected, and Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Kitts and Nevis now coming online.
Our SmartSeas project is using technology to protect small fishing vessels from dangerous weather conditions. We also assist with direct deployment of emergency telecoms equipment in the aftermath of a catastrophe – most recently, following the impact of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.
COVID has further exacerbated inequalities for those not connected, including students, vulnerable groups, persons with disabilities, and those lacking the needed digital skills, to name a few.
We have, as a result, ramped up our digital skills offerings. In partnership with Cisco, we are opening our first Caribbean Digital Transformation Centre open in the Dominican Republic. In the space of just one year, this centre, and its sister centre in Brazil, have delivered training to more than 22,000 individuals.
We have ramped up targeted initiatives like our regional Girls Can Code workshops, launched in 2019 and supported by Cisco, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Facebook and others, and are delivering digital skills development for girls and young women while supporting countries in the field of digital inclusion policies and strategies.
We are looking forward to launching our Caribbean Girls Can Code programme. Stay tuned, it is in the pipeline.
To further support Persons with Disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our next Accessible Americas event showcasing assistive technologies is scheduled to go ahead later this year, at the kind invitation of the government of Cuba.
Our Americas Regional Office is also partnering with the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Intercultural Indigenous University, to promote the digital inclusion of indigenous communities.
We have also seen the impact that COVID has on learners. Education lies at the heart of every country's future. Yet, 1.6 billion learners have been impacted and half a billion are without access to connectivity.
I am particularly delighted that the Office of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS, one of today's event partners) became a lead organization for our flagship Giga initiative with UNICEF and others to connect every school on the planet to the internet, and every young person to information, opportunity and choice.
We are already working with the OECS team to connect more than 1,100 schools across the Caribbean, impacting 180,000 students and teachers.
New Giga partners continue to come onboard fast – most recently, the Musk Foundation and the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office – and I look forward to welcoming many others from the region to support this vitally important drive to ensure that the young people of the Caribbean are empowered to take full advantage of online opportunities.
In terms of other capacity development resources, I do want to flag that our online ITU Academy platform is another important resource for the region on a huge range of topics, including IoT, 5G, spectrum management, cybersecurity, blockchain, and more.
To help nations extract maximum value from existing networks and seamlessly integrate new infrastructure, we have also been working with 22 Caribbean nations on a regional technical assessment, complemented by workshops to train young engineers to meet new challenges in areas like conformity and interoperability.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The huge surge in malware and online phishing prompted by the COVID pandemic, coupled with recent high-profile ransomware attacks, have underscored the growing challenge of cybersecurity, and the importance of having a cybersecurity strategy and a National Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT).
ITU is already supporting the Bahamas in setting up a National Computer Incident Response Team; is working with the government of Barbados on the implementation of tools for its own national CIRT; and is assisting Bermuda with CIRT Readiness Assessments. As malicious actors deploy increasingly sophisticated techniques to undermine network integrity and compromise data security, ITU stands ready to assist every nation of the Caribbean nation to safeguard the vital digital resources on which every economy now depends. And that includes keeping our kids safe.
We have now fully-revised Child Online Protection Guidelines, developed collaboratively by a multistakeholder group of experts on child online safety and available in all six UN languages.
The guidelines cover new challenges posed by emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, connected toys, online gaming, robotics, and AI; provide resources and tools to support children, parents and educators in the development of digital skills and digital literacy; and provide guidance to industry and government on the development of corporate and national strategies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
These are just a few examples of where we have ramped up our services to tackle many of the gaps COVID has highlighted.
We are committed to helping every nation of the Caribbean strengthen the resiliency of its networks, the capacities of its population, and its readiness to harness the many opportunities that digital transformation offers.
I would invite you to check out some of our latest offerings from regional connectivity snapshots and market analysis, last-mile connectivity solutions guide, digital regulation tooolkit, cybersecurity strategies, among others.
In the months ahead we will continue to work with the CTU, with ARIN and our other members as we gear up for the World Telecommunication Development Conference, where we will draw up a new agenda for digital development.
Many of you have already taken part in our Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Americas, as well as our Caribbean Preparatory Meeting (CarPM) which was convened by CTU, our first Inter-Regional Coordination Meeting, and, of course our series of Road to Addis global dialogues around key WTDC issues.
Coming when it does, with the whole world's attention now on digital issues platforms, I believe our next WTDC offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically change the digital development narrative.
The theme of our conference is most appropriate: 'Connecting the Unconnected to Achieve Sustainable Development'
Partnerships will be a key focus, through a new segment called Partner2Connect for Digital Transformation which will bring together leaders from across government, business, the investment community, and civil society with the aim of launching a new Coalition to Connect the Unconnected, particularly in LDCs, LLDCs, and, of course, SIDS.
For the first time, this conference will also bring in the vital voice of youth, through the very first WTDC Youth Summit, which will take place just ahead of the main event.
Our new global network of Generation Connect Youth Groups are already working on inputs, and I am very pleased to be able to tell you that our 15-member Generation Connect group for the Americas region includes 7 representatives from Caribbean SIDS, so the concerns of this region, and of small island states in particular, should be very well reflected.
Dear colleagues,
Whatever the shape of our post-COVID world, digital is going to define every single aspect of that 'new normal'.
Making the leap to affordable meaningful universal connectivity will require a diverse spectrum of stakeholders to work together to shape our digital future. That includes UN agencies and civil society, regional groups like ARIN and the CTU, which are of course both ITU-D sector members, alongside others like CANTO, CARICOM, and a whole host of private sector entities.
Our next WTDC offers us an outstanding and unmissable opportunity to work together leverage the power of digital to truly change the world – at a time when the vital importance of connectivity has never been so evident. I count on your engagement, your energy and your enthusiasm to drive meaningful change, through which we can deliver the people-centric digital solutions that really deliver on our promise to 'leave no-one behind'.
