Successful conference, an effort to create an ICT master plan for Curaçao

Bureau Telecommunicatie en Post, Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Kennisplatform, UTS and Stimul-It can look back at a very successful conference which took place on the 26th, 27th and 28th of October 2009 at the Curaçao World Trade Center (WTC), which counted with the participation of over one hundred participants from different parts of our community.  Our Minister of Traffic and Communication Mr. Maurice Ardieans who together with the Minister of Tourism and Economic affairs Mr. David Dick, formed part of the driving force behind this project, can be very proud of having created consciousness amongst the population of Curaçao on various aspects as to the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT).  This conference was responsible for creating a pathway for both the government and the private sector to raise the level of ICT on Curaçao.  The main objective was to create a plan which would enable Curaçao to become a knowledge based economy with in the next 10 years.
 
Master Plan
This conference counted with the participation of stake holders, from different sectors such as government, economy, telecommunication, tourism, health, education, finance, industry and commerce in ICT.  Participants were analyzing developments in their sectors in small group sessions.  These sessions were interactive, with presentations by various specialists who would lead the groups into in-depth analysis.  The results of these sessions can be considered as the master plan, which will lead us toward the Curaçao of 2019.  The contribution set forth shows that the Curaçao of today is working with interest and enthusiasm toward the Curaçao of Tomorrow.
 
Small and Medium size businesses
Stimul-It and UTS ensured a day filled with information for small and medium size businesses.  During the seminar, "what is new in E-business" businessmen got a sense of what is new in the commerce of today.  Companies like UTS, IBM and Suares & Co provided their presentations, demonstrations on technological advancements and also showed what systems exists currently on the market to make business more efficient.
 
Youth
Stimul-It placed some attention during this seminar on the youth, which was titled: "Internet today… Are you ON!"  In a very dynamic presentation Mr. Sidney Justiana brought forth more in depth what the Internet could mean to our youth. Furthermore, there were some testimonials and demonstrations, where young participants could experience what the Internet really has to offer.
 
Plenary Sessions
There were several local and international experts, government officials and dignitaries during the conference who presented during the plenary sessions.  The main speaker during the conference was Mrs. Arlene McComie, Permanent Secretary of Public Administration Ministry of Trinidad & Tobago.  Mrs. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of CTU also presented and emphasized on the required consciousness of a community as-to ICT.  CTU urges all countries to unite in order to develop their potential opportunities in technology.  Participants were impressed with the presentation provided by IBM Representatives Mr. Gary Austin and Rick Zytaruk, with topics like discussing government and finance.

Arlene McComie, Permanent Secretary of Public
Administration Ministry of Trinidad & Tobago

Recommendations
This conference has proven that Curaçao has a lot of potential in the field of ICT, however this will require plenty of goodwill and hard work.  Aspects which were of tremendous importance in achieving this goal were Internet access and bandwidth.  As stated by Minister of Traffic and Communication Mr. Maurice Ardieans: “we shall start seeing the effects of this effort, where every schools will have at their disposal an Internet connection speed of 10 Mb/s by next year”.  These developments will need to continue in order to achieve the goal of having an Internet connectivity speed of 100 Mb/s in all homes of Curaçao within the next 5 years.  It is a fact, that Curaçao has the proper technology in place to achieve this goal as of today, however this goal requires self-determination of our community in general.  As a result, Government will have to take a leadership position in achieving this goal.  Furthermore, government will have to appoint an organization to consolidate the results of this conference.

Participants during the sessions intended to creating a master plan for
telecommunications on Curaçao

Results
We would like to thank all participants for their valuable contribution, we will be developing a master plan for telecommunications, which will stem out of the input provided by all the sectors who participated in this conference.  We will be further developing this initial document which has been created with the information gathered during this conference, into the future.  It is our intention to continue working with all sectors involved using breakout sessions, in order to further develop the master plan.   Several sectors have pointed out aspects which will be implemented as of immediate.
The results of the conference will be at the disposal of public of Curaçao in the form of a presentation located on the website: www.bantraha.com and on www.btnp.org. One can keep them selves informed via www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com under the name Ban Traha.