Paramaribo, ‘the city of smile’ was indeed ‘smiling’ as over 500 delegates from around the world assembled at the Torarica Hotel for the common goal of shaping the future of ICT in the Caribbean at CANTO’s 27th Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition.
The annual conference and trade exhibition is the Caribbean’s premier telecommunications event for industry professionals, academics and regional governments. CANTO with the assistance of co-host TELESUR, delivered an event to remember from the 10th -13th July 2011.
The event which centred on the theme, "Shaping the Future of Information and Communication" focused on how all stakeholders including suppliers, ICT operators, governments, regulators, developers of e-content and most importantly, the customer can shape the fundamental services and products to ones which are socially responsible, economically viable and consumer centric.
The keynote address at the opening ceremony was delivered by Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Dr. Touré congratulated CANTO for being at the forefront of ICT development in the Caribbean and raising the profile of the organization, making it a real tool for ICT development in the Caribbean. . He also stressed that the big challenge now is for this region, to repeat this mobile miracle (170% mobile penetration in Suriname) for the Internet, and in particular for broadband. Broadband is key to furthering social and economic development in the 21st century, and to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
CANTO also officially launched its new logo to the delegates and general public at the opening ceremony. The new logo is significant to the organization, as the brand name CANTO has been rejuvenated to accurately depict the association as contemporary, dynamic, and full of verve.
On Monday, keynoter Alex McDonald of LIME addressed the ministers and other invited guests at the Ministerial Breakfast Meeting sponsored by LIME. Mr McDonald presentation proved to be an ideal precursor to the Ministers Roundtable.
CANTO prides itself on bridging the gap and developing relationships between all stakeholders in the ICT sector and its renowned, highly anticipated, Ministerial Roundtable was the ideal forum to facilitate this. The ministers in attendance took this opportune time to share and discuss the state of ICT in their respective countries. This year, CANTO hosted seven ministers from Anguilla, Belize, 2
Bonaire, Dominica, Grenada , Montserrat, Suriname and two government representatives from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.
The trade exhibition on the other hand covered the spectrum of communications technologies, offering in-depth information on the latest developments in voice, data, image, and multimedia captured in fifty-six exhibits. The winner of the best exhibit went to Huawei.
The conference, which took place simultaneously with the exhibition, facilitated discourse on key issues from a panelist of experts on areas such as:
· Connect the Caribbean initiatives
· Projects and partnership: Key to regional development
· Shaping the regulatory framework to keep pace with evolving technology
· 4G and beyond
· The future of Net Neutrality
The members of the five CANTO working committees namely Marketing and Communications, Financial Advisory, Human Resource, Disaster Recovery Planning and Regulation & Emerging Technologies met to discuss CANTO affairs in their respective areas and also charted the way forward for even more projects to make the CANTO brand more robust.
Connect the Caribbean (CTC) continues to be one of CANTO’s most ambitious projects to date and is building momentum in the region and internationally. CANTO’s Connect the Caribbean initiative has been created in support of the ITU’s Connect the World. CANTO has focused on driving Regional e-Content, the Regional e-Market Place, Community and Social Investment Initiatives, Network Connectivity and Conferences to deliver a connected Caribbean. The CANTO Secretariat is exploring options for funding these initiatives through grants, sponsorships and partnerships. Using CTC as a platform, CANTO is working with regional governments and other public and private sector stakeholders – CTU, ITU, CARICOM to increase connectivity and ICT usage in the Caribbean. We envisage ICTs being used in all sectors of the society to deliver government services more efficiently and to increase business competitiveness. The end goal is economic growth and improved quality of life for all our citizens.
Best CTC project of the year went to TELESUR with their project titled: "TELESUR – Linking Tomorrow" presented by Zoila Sallons.
CANTO 2011 would not be complete without the networking events which facilitates business networking in a relaxed, social atmosphere. Each evening, patrons were entertained by cultural explosion of local acts, and feasted on Suriname’s delectable and diverse cuisine. New to the agenda was the CANTO/Ericsson iCreate eContent Award ceremony sponsored by Ericsson. This award ceremony officially acknowledged and rewarded the top four winners of the CANTO i-Create e-Content Competition. CANTO officials also thanked iGovTT, UTT, TSTT and Illuminat who also sponsored the competition. 3
Tuesday saw the recurrence of the very popular informal afternoon sponsored by TELESUR. This year’s event was held at the picturesque Colakreek; a cola coloured swimming creek where delegates got to swim, exercise and be entertained by cultural acts from the diverse and multicultural nationals of Suriname.
The final two events were the 5th Annual Caribbean Human Resource Forum and the LACNIC IPv6 workshop, which took place concurrently from the 14th -15th of July at the Torarica Hotel.
The Human Resource forum focused on developing leadership capability including linking HR strategies and execution with company vision, mission and culture and creating an action plan to ensure execution of agreed actions. The IPv6 workshop was conducted in partnership with LACNIC.
CANTO 2011 can only be described as spectacular; co-host TELESUR organized a plethora of cultural acts that exhibited the diverse culture of Suriname that would be etched in the minds of the delegates for a long time. However, the event would not have been successful without the help of sponsors such as Ericsson, Alactel-Lucent, Huawei, UCC, Brightstar, RIM (Blackberry), O3B Networks, Xtera Communications, Digicel Suriname, ICANN, Tempo, Mixto-Card Conceptions, Peoplesurv, Calix, Ciena and LIME. Next stop – CANTO 2012 in Miami from the 22nd -25th July; this promises to be a phenomenal event and CANTO welcomes all partners and sponsors on board to assist with the co-hosting of same.