Montserrat Joins Region’s Push For 21st Century Government

Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Communications and Works Beverly Mendes attended a workshop in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this week to hammer out a policy framework and guidelines for implementation of 21st Century Government.

The Caribbean Telecommunications Union, which is spearheading the initiative says in a statement that a 21st Century Government is one that makes effective use of information and communication technologies to deliver services to its citizens, and its internal and external clients.

The CTU says 21st Century Government will transform the public service, strengthen economic competitiveness and promote sustainable development.

Many countries, including Montserrat, have been introducing electronic government or e-Government services.

Apart from attending the CTU’s 36th Executive Council meeting, Ms. Menzes participated in the Caribbean ICT Collaboration Forum, which promotes inter-ministerial collaboration, with a focus on the mechanisms to facilitate active implementation of the various projects identified as critical to national development and the advancement of the Caribbean.

Many of these projects are essential to 21st Century Government.

Other events were the 2nd ICT for the Justice Sector event, exploring further how ICTs can greatly enhance the management of the region’s justice sector, and a Capacity Building training programme, that addressed the principles of Internet Governance, discussing and analysing the actual or potential consequences of different policy approaches.

Four Workshops on ICT for People With Disabilities were held on 22nd March to demonstrate to them the power of ICTs to transform their lives.