St. George’s, March 2, 2010 (GIS) – Grenada’s Telecommunications and Public Utilities Ministers, Hon. Joseph Gilbert, has called on the OECS telecommunications body to make climate change adaptation and disaster management a focus of the organisation.
His remarks, coming against the backdrop of recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, were made in St. Lucia as he delivered the opening remarks at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ECTEL).
He said that while celebrating 10 years of achievements, ECTEL must also reflect on the pain and suffering of the people in disaster areas such as Haiti and Chile.
The suffering, he said, also includes the dislocation of institutions which are critical to governance.
One of the things the ECTEL meeting considered was a response package which involves the sharing of expertise with the people of Haiti in rebuilding their telecommunications regulatory system within the framework of a ten-year reconstruction plan.
Hon. Gilbert, chairman of ECTEL’s Council of Ministers, was accompanied to the meeting by Lana Mc Phail, a member of the board of ECTEL and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works.
During the government’s recent reshuffle of senior public servants, Ms. Mc Phail was reassigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Permanent Secretary.
ECTEL was established on May 4, 2000, at a meeting in Grenada of heads of state of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.
“Our leaders had come to recognize the development imperative of creating a liberalized and competitive telecommunications environment,’’ said Mr. Gilbert, who is also Grenada’s Minister of Communications and Works. “Our leaders had come to recognize and articulate that universal access and use of telecommunications services are necessary for national and regional development.’’
ECTEL, the only multi-state telecommunications regulator in the world, is premised on the idea that a “harmonized and coordinated approach is a key ingredient for economic and social development,’’ Minister Gilbert added.”We have in fact provided a model which is the envy of many regions of the world.’’
