Ministry of Commerce & Technology

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Acting General Manager of Pulse Investments Limited, Romae Gordon (left) in an animated discussion with Chief Executive 0fficer of the Central Information Technology Office (CITO), Michael Duquesnay, at the Rotary Club of Kingston's weekly meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston

On an international basis Jamaica is ahead of many of its trading partners and competitors around the world in terms of its e-readiness for the Information Technology world.

Chief Executive Officer of CITO Michael duQuesnay made this observation at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston recently.

Mr. duQuesnay said the recognition given to Jamaica this year by the Economist Intelligent Unit as one of the 78 most advanced countries in the world based on the development of the IT sector proved that the country was doing well.

Mr. duQuesnay noted that Jamaica was the only English speaking Caribbean country chosen in the survey, which was regarded as the most important international survey measure of e-readiness.

The CITO Head said as the technology advanced, it was envisioned that a common data backbone will be developed for the government of Jamaica, as there was an important and urgent need to physically join all government entities and enable the sourcing of software, the pooling and sharing of resources and outsourcing.

Mr. duQuesnay said as the move to offer computerized services to citizens increased there was the need to establish a new way of governance to enhance efficiency in this area, especially where related transactions were concerned in particular, with export and import transactions.

"Citizens want to see the government as providing one service for them as a unified set of transactions; in order to do that the pieces of the government behind the scenes has to be joined together," he said.

The CITO seminar on wireless technology, which will be held on Thursday April 14 under the heading "Demystifying Wireless for the Decision Maker," is another of the Office's initiatives to familiarize Jamaicans with the global trends in IT and how it affects business.

Mr. duQuesnay said the event, which will be directed towards executives and decision makers, was primarily an educational one as in many cases persons in decision making positions were faced with signing off on investment decisions about technology and were not always knowledgeable about the underlying components of the technology.

He said the seminar was an attempt to bridge the gaps and demystify the technology where wireless computing was concerned.

Meanwhile, he informed that CITO was in the planning process for a major update of its 2002 national IT Plan. He said the Office was concerned with ensuring that the sector's advance was not accompanied by waste and duplication of efforts. Noting that Jamaica was already poised for growth, he said the improvements stood to further enhance the country's development.

CITO was established in 2001 by a Cabinet decision stemming from the government's recognition of the need for a national IT plan and the realization that IT could be a vehicle for economic development and growth. Its mandate is to, among other things advise, lead and build capacity in the IT sector and in particular IT use in the public sector.

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