Chamber CEO 'delighted' with 'smart island' disclosure

Thu, Jan 7th 2016, 10:04 PM

After having called for the establishment of a Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation CEO Edison Sumner welcomed the news that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) intends to locate the first "smart island" in The Bahamas with enthusiasm. In fact, Sumner told Guardian Business yesterday he was "delighted."

"I am quite delighted that the government seems to finally be getting it. We have been preaching and advocating for the past year or so that The Bahamas needs to consider other industries apart from tourism and financial services.

"I am well documented in saying that the establishment of ICT sector/industry is the most sensible way to go in developing a new, sustainable industry and that the ICT sector is the fastest growing industry in the world. I even went to the extent of calling for there to be a full Ministry of ICT in its truest form. Any country that is serious about its growth and development must necessarily pay attention to and provide the resources for the development of an ICT sector," he said.

According to Sumner, the fact that the ITU proposes to make The Bahamas -- or New Providence -- their first "smart island" speaks to the vision the ITU has in the development of these islands.

"I am very pleased that the government now sees this as a real opportunity for growth and development, not only of our technological infrastructure, but also a fantastic opportunity to expend our economy.

"What needs to happen now is for the government and private sector to begin to identify individuals to be trained in the areas of ICT as IP engineers, broadband and spectrum specialists, coders and programmers, etc so that we can become the ICT hub of the entire region and demonstrate that we have the technical skills to support such an industry," Sumner said.

Sumner said The Bahamas is almost perfectly situated geographically, and has "great technological infrastructure, perhaps one of the best technology ecosystems in this hemisphere," in order to take this opportunity and run with it and take full advantage of what he said could very well become the next big thing economically for The Bahamas.

"This new initiative will open the doors to new foreign direct investments, attract more international companies to do business in The Bahamas and cause more international and regional corporations to establish their domicile in The Bahamas," Sumner said, professing himself "very much" pleased by Christie's statement.

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