The Na­tion­al In­for­ma­tion and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Tech­nol­o­gy (ICT) Pol­i­cy and Strat­e­gy Con­fer­ence will con­vene at the Hy­att Re­gency in Port-of-Spain on Wednes­day with its theme Lever­ag­ing ICT for So­cial and Eco­nom­ic Trans­for­ma­tion. The con­fer­ence will pro­vide a fo­rum in which na­tion­al stake­hold­ers will be ex­posed to and share views on key pol­i­cy is­sues and trends in ICT de­vel­op­ment and as they re­late to T&T.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, the con­fer­ence will fa­cil­i­tate the of­fi­cial launch of the Cab­i­net-ap­proved Na­tion­al ICT Plan 2012-2017. This plan is the re­sult of a se­ries of con­sul­ta­tions which have al­ready tak­en place and the con­fer­ence will bring to­geth­er na­tion­al stake­hold­ers in gov­ern­ment, busi­ness, acad­e­mia and civ­il so­ci­ety to un­veil the plan.

Spe­cif­ic ob­jec­tives of the con­fer­ence are to gain in­put from a sig­nif­i­cant cross-sec­tion of the so­ci­ety in­to the fur­ther de­vel­op­ment of the Na­tion­al ICT Plan, as well as, pro­mot­ing the im­por­tance of the Na­tion­al ICT Plan in the con­text of na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment. It would al­so ex­plore the role of ICT in fos­ter­ing so­cial and eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tion, while ex­plor­ing the de­vel­op­ment of ICT as a key con­trib­u­tor to GDP and na­tion­al di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion.

The open­ing cer­e­mo­ny will be chaired by chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer of iGovTT Kendall Tull. Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the Min­is­ter of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy Dr Ru­pert Grif­fith are ex­pect­ed to be present at the open­ing.