Chairman
National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC)
Grenada
Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22), Bucharest, Romania, 26 September to 14 October 2022
Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, Excellencies, Delegates; good morning.
I would like to begin by congratulating Romania for hosting such an important conference. Your hospitality and your facilities are equally impressive.
I am honored to be representing Grenada, a small island state in the Caribbean, and I bring greetings from my Prime Minister, the Honorable Dickon Mitchell, a strong advocate for preservation of our environment, opportunities for our youth, and the digital transformation of our country.
We are a member of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and together with other members here present, represent our region with at least 14 votes, and are in pursuit of opportunities to achieve the UN’s strategic development goals.
The successful integration of ICTs into the digital economy of our country, and region, will require a coordinated and comprehensive approach of participation and collaboration. We have no choice now, but to advance effective partnerships in our region, through collaboration, and the leveraging of global partnerships.
In many Caribbean states, we still do not have a digital system of identification for our citizens. Equally important, and still lacking, is a system of physical addressing – an address for everyone. This is necessary for the delivery of goods or the location of a home in the event of a health or other emergency and are critical if we are to build a digital economy. Today an can be considered a basic human right and form an important basis on which society can function.
If these critical systems are to be realized in the immediate future, we must explore diversified strategies for resource mobilization.
The challenges we face as a global community, and especially as small island states, are unprecedented. Global warming, poverty, disease, war and the threats of war, and inequality, rank among the most pressing global issues today. These challenges are often too complex to be met by any one government or organization, and especially by small states like ours, aspiring to transform our country.
Creating solutions requires innovation, ingenuity, collaboration, and cooperation, across diverse sectors, and require building partnerships. We recognize that dynamic partnerships are a critical success factor in attaining sustainable development objectives nationally, regionally, and internationally. This is most evident today as countries and delegates try to build partnerships in order to be victorious in the various elections. We wish this would continue beyond Bucharest.
Finally, Grenada takes this opportunity to commit our support to our colleague from the Caribbean, Mr. Stephen Bereaux, in his effort to be elected as the Director of the Telecommunications Bureau (BDT), and we also would appreciate the support of all delegates in voting for Mr. Stephen Bereaux as well.
Thank you
