NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) partnered with several stakeholders to host a two-day workshop on Information and Technology in the Bahamas.  Partners include ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), ARIN Caribbean (American Registry for Internet Numbers) and The Internet Society. Held under the theme, ‘Strengthening the Local Internet Security, Resilience, Convergence,’ the workshop takes place at the British Colonial Hilton, June 3-4.

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Grand Bahama, Senator the Hon. Kwasi Thompson delivered the opening address. He said that although the focus has traditionally been placed on sectors such as tourism, banking and maritime, it is time The Bahamas expands its footprint to include other areas such as ICT development.

“This has great potential for this country.  ICT development could be the third pillar for our society because just like in tourism, we already have two assets – proximity and our people.  Given these two assets, there is no reason why we couldn’t develop ICT here,” said Senator Thompson. “

He said Grand Bahama is ideally suited to be a technology hub as the island has proximity and people, and is already known as the industry capital of The Bahamas. He said that the government has been advancing its agenda to pursue the modernization and digitization of its various services and agencies. The government has already embarked on increasing online services throughout the country.  Recent initiatives include the digitization of the framework of government systems; setup of infrastructure for technology, start-ups and education.

“As you embark on discussing IXP, the government will be closely monitoring these discussions. We want you as industry experts to advise as to how to best move forward in this venture.”