Regional governments commit to establishing 21st century governments

Some of the officials who attended the summit

Heads of Government and their representatives attending the 21st Century Government Summit endorsed and expressed their commitment to establishing 21st Century Government in their respective countries.

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, in collaboration with the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD), hosted a Summit to present to regional Heads of Government the principles of 21st Century Government, the goal of which is to accelerate government and public service transformation and thereby strengthen economic competitiveness and promote sustainable development.

A three-day Symposium, designed to prepare public sector practitioners for the work that has to be done to establish 21st Century Governments, followed the Summit from 17th to 19th January.

Delivering the feature address, and calling on his regional counterparts to take up the mantle to lead the transformation process, Dr. The Rt. Hon. Keith Mitchell stated, “As leaders, we must lead the process. That is our responsibility. We must use our power to make the paradigm shift to break from our traditional mindset, practices and methods of engaging our citizens. We must embrace information and communication technologies to transform and make the relationship with our government and citizens more effective and efficient.”

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the Hon. Gaston Browne, in his welcome address to his fellow Heads indicated his full support for the 21st Century Government initiative. Prime Minister Browne stated “The Caribbean Telecommunication Union’s focus on 21st Century Government, starting with this Summit, is timely, welcomed and important. My government fully supports this initiative, as is evident by the work already being undertaken through the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Information Technology in Antigua and Barbuda.” E-government services introduced in Antigua and Barbuda include border control and visa application systems, ASYCUDA World System, digitization and automation of business registries, onshore and offshore, land registry system and the driver’s license renewal system.

Calling on Caribbean Governments to support and transition to 21st Century Government, with urgency, Prime Minister Browne further stated, “For the entire CTU Member States and territories, our future will be a journey with many steps; our future requires us today to take steps that are definitely current and, I dare say, urgent.” “Antigua and Barbuda therefore re-iterates and endorses this initiative and I encourage all of my colleagues to avail themselves of the guidance and support of the CTU.”

As she continued to sound the clarion call, Ms. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU, in her opening address, painted a picture of the current situation and state of technology in the region using the analogy of a horse-drawn carriage.

“Imagine for a moment a horse-drawn carriage moving at 20km per hour on the busiest highway where the speed of the other vehicles is 100km an hour. Imagine the chaos and peril that would result. One horse-drawn carriage on the highway would snarl all traffic and bring it to a crawl. The horse-drawn carriage is anachronistic in the era of modern cars and smooth highways.”

She continued, “This is what many Caribbean governments seem to be doing, to the peril of their citizens, they are taking their countries on the information super highway using horse-drawn carriages.”

She concluded by urging regional leaders to affirm their commitment to and adoption of 21st Century Government. “Heads of Government, at the end of this Summit, we would like to know that you are convinced in your mind of the need to embrace 21st Century Government. We would like to know that you are prepared to champion the move to 21st Century Government. We would like to be assured that you are prepared to collaborate and cooperate with your colleagues in the adoption of 21st Century Government.”

The representatives of Estonia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rein Lang, and of Georgia, Minister of Justice, Ms. Thea Tsulukiani, gave outstanding presentations on what has been achieved in e-Government in their respective countries, both of which are rated in the top e-government countries in the world.

The Summit ended on a high note with a round-table discussion of Heads of Government who endorsed 21st Century Government. This set the stage for the three-day Symposium that followed.

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6 Comments

  1. lady
    January 24, 2018

    We must use our power to make the paradigm shift to break from our traditional mindset, practices and methods of engaging our citizens.

    please dont let that mean they going to start allowing madness like gay rights and transgender movements. because thats madness, so dont mean that. just dont.

  2. Jonathan Y St Jean
    January 24, 2018

    So why aren’t the opposition parties in this grand scheme and plan to establish true democratic governance in the subregion.These dame governments need to practice what they are talking about.If they want to talk about 21st century governments to mean what Skerritt and Trump and the leaders of Venezuela,Turkey and the Phillipines are doing as 21st century governance they should spell that out clearly and give the people a chance to decide if this is what they are planning or else they would let the opposition parties have a say in the declaration to make it broad and consensual.These leaders are on record lecturing the US on leaving the failed country Venezuela off limits.

  3. Truth Be Told
    January 24, 2018

    Was Dominica represented at this 21st Century Government Summit? If so do we know who represented Dominica, as I am unable to recognise a Dominican minister in this photo.

  4. Shaka Zulu
    January 23, 2018

    If 21st century goverment include term limits then i am for it. If its about people staying in power till kingdom come then non of this will work. Why? Institutions that are required to mak the system work become weak amd political and is the same going around in circles.

  5. ‘Abracadabra’ Nation
    January 23, 2018

    You all are late guys; you are way behind time because as we speak our ‘Abracadabra’ PM has us in a 25th Century mood of governance, with bridges that were destroyed by TS Erika in 2015 still destroyed, we tired pass bailey bridge, we selling passports to crooks and criminals all over the world to the point that our ‘Abracadabra’ boy told us that a then known wanted criminal like Aliereza Monfared who was hiding in Dominica from international law enforcement, was a good gentleman that loved us and wanted to help us. Right now as we speak we have international first class hotels like the Morocan hotel that is opened and created employment for over three hundred young persons, we have a coffee factory that is busy exporting our local coffee to the world and creating employment for thousands; we have an abattoir that is fully functional, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. We eradicated pit toilet and replaced them with first class toilets that we even eat a meal there

    • Neville
      January 23, 2018

      You forgot to mention that we also have a geothermal plant that is not only producing electricity for Dominica but also for the French islands. We also got an new hospital that is almost finished now and it took only 3 years to build it. Not to mention the new hospital in Marigot. We’ve also got a nice brand new road from Portsmouth to the airport, completely without single traffic bridges to help our friends from Ross University to get quicker and safer to the airport. One thing I’m not to sure about, our PM said he signed a contract with a Chinese company for the construction of a new airport. He said that more than 2 years ago but nothing has happened since. Has he for once been lying to us…?

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