Among the goals for the gathering are to discuss and approve the draft Regional Digital Development Strategy (RDDS) and the strategic objectives of the Implementation Plan.
The CARICOM Secretariat has spearheaded the formation of the plan in order to guide the ICT activities and initiatives in the region, and to utilize ICT as a critical development tool.
Read more: CARICOM Ministers to Discuss Regional ICT Strategies
The current system, in which customs and/or immigration officials manually process passengers at borders, calls for significant resources and infrastructure and is generally time consuming for passengers and border authorities. Passengers may be interviewed or examined, and their baggage and travel documentation is inspected.
Public opinion is that this current system of processing travelers tends to be cumbersome and inefficient, and it further supports the growing need to accurately identify travelers in a more cost effective, efficient manner for security and border control purposes.
Read more: CARIPASS: Multi-national border crossing for the Caribbean
The project concept for the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (CARCIP) was officially presented to the region at a workshop at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in St. Michael, Barbados. The workshop, which opened on 17 November, was held at the conclusion of the Fifth Meeting of the Regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Steering Committee.
The World Bank was engaged in bi-lateral discussions with various countries, but only on Wednesday officially disclosed the project to a wider regional grouping.
Read more: World Bank proposes ICT Infrastructure development programme for CARIFORUM
Over the period of the meeting (16-17 November) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in St. Michael, members of the Regional ICT Steering Committee; representatives of Member States and regional institutions and organizations will be locked in discussions on the governance and the implementation mechanism for the Regional ICT Strategy, as efforts intensify towards the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) becoming an Information/Knowledge economy by 2015.
Read more: CARICOM: Steering Committee meetings in Barbados to review regional ICT4D strategy
The Caribbean Information Society (CARIB-IS) Portal was implemented by the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) Programme of the CARICOM Secretariat. The project was supported by the European Union under the Ninth European Development Fund to benefit all the CARIFORUM Member States.