Belize Attends CANTO 37th Annual Conference & Trade Exhibition

The Thirty-Seventh Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition concluded in Miami today. CANTO, as it is referred to, is a non-profit association made up of operators, companies and individuals in the information and communications technology sector with a focus on leveraging regional ICT initiatives for CARICOM. This year’s theme was “Enabling the Digital Evolution” which spoke to fostering resilient and sustainable development through digital transformation. Attendees shared experiences, knowledge and partnerships toward building the digital ecosystem and Belize was lauded for the steps it is taking to get there.  Minister of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics, and E-Governance, Michel Chebat, led a delegation to the conference and spoke to News Five about the region wanting to replicate the digital bill that was presented in the last meeting of the House of Representatives.

Michel Chebat

Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics, and E-Governance

“I can tell you that it is a very proud moment for Belize because we have been able to share with them that we have one of the first digital government bills in the region. We presented that in the House last week Friday, as you may know. And why is this bill so important? It is important because it really sets the parameters as where we are going to go as a government, it sets standards for all of the ministries so that across ministries, it doesn’t matter who comes to them, but the services will be the same across all ministries. It provides for us for capacity building with our public officers. I can tell you that we have had an initial cohort of graduates already and it is exciting because the whole transition, the whole digital transformation will now be led by our public officers. They are going to be the movers and shakers in the public service and so it is very exciting for us and we were able to share that with our Caribbean brothers and sisters and I can tell you it got a lot of attention. CANTO actually wants to use our legislation as a model legislation and they want to do a case study of it for the rest of the Caribbean. So a very important meeting for us and very exciting time for Belize.”

The Ministry of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics, and E-Governance and the National Telecommunication Operator are committed to creating new opportunities, fostering growth, and leveraging the power of ICT for the benefit of the country.