New PCs Hand-Over for St. Kitts
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
July 06, 2015 (SKNIS)
Computers in community centers throughout St. Kitts will be replaced with upgraded equipment, following a hand-over of 10 new PCs on Friday (July 03).
The desktop PCs were donated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Programme Officer at the ITU Area Office, Sylvester Cadette, who stressed his organization’s commitment to work with member states.
“The ITU is committed to connecting the world to interact with its members in the Caribbean in particular,” said Mr. Cadette, and outlined varied areas such as Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and telecommunication development. “The ITU is the United Nations (UN) specialized agency for ICT and in that regard, will be looking at the entire range of developments from ICT infrastructure, to issues related to cost, capacity building, climate change and gender issues.”
Minister with responsibility for Information Technology, Hon. Vincent Byron accepted the donation.
“The International Telecommunications Union is a very important one worldwide and especially to St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said. “As an integral part of the UN, we in St. Kitts and Nevis are glad that we are able to participate in whatever way, especially the projects that the ITU is undergoing.”
Minister Byron said that the contribution will aid in helping to connect communities across the island, especially in rural areas, while stressing that persons who do not have access to computers can now visit the community centers and use them for research, to do projects, or just surf the internet.
The Department of Information Technology will be setting up protocols for the use and safety of these tele-centers, as a way to properly manage and secure the computers placed in the various community centers.
“The government of St. Kitts and Nevis is committed to ensuring that the public sector as well as the private sector has proper broadband connectivity,” he said, while confirming that the Federation has a very secure and important fiber-optic link that would be used at the community centers.
This initiative will be expanded to include Nevis.
Just recently, the ITU together with various member states engaged in what is referred to as the HIPCAR project, a project designed to support the Caribbean countries in improving their competitiveness by harmonizing approaches to ICT development. It brings together the Caribbean governments, regulators, service providers, civil society, private sectors, regional and international organizations involved in ICT.