Connected Caribbean Summit 2024 Seeks to Translate Talk into Development Action Regional Leaders, Top Professionals to Converge on Miami for Action-Oriented Forum

Bevil Wooding, director of Caribbean affairs, ARIN

Source: Jamaica Gleaner
Regional leaders are assembling at the Connected Caribbean Summit 2024 (CCS 2024) in Miami to deliberate on practical strategies to accelerate the Caribbean advance from the “status quo to true transformation”.

Lead convenor of the summit, Bevil Wooding, told the journalists at the virtual media launch of the summit that there is an undeniable urgency to address the issues facing our region. “Whether it is rising crime, debilitating traffic, persistently high unemployment, or endemic corruption, the public perception is that there is insufficient corrective action and a shortage of sustainable solutions,” said Wooding.

Nigel Edwards, executive director of Unit Trust Corporation, confers with Misha Lobban Clarke, executive director of Barbados Chamber of Industry and Commerce, at last year’s Connected Caribbean Summit.

“The summit is deliberately focused on addressing not just this perception but the actual implementation of practical solutions and strategies to overcome these problems,” continued Wooding, a technology pioneer and an advocate for Caribbean development.

Nigel Edwards, executive director of Unit Trust Corporation, the largest asset management company in the region and one of the flagship sponsors of CCS 2024, spoke on the importance of the gathering to build financial resilience in the Caribbean. “We’ve been investing heavily in entrepreneurship development. We think the summit is a fantastic way to bring Caribbean-wide visibility to some of the emerging investable companies that will be of interest to all, including some of the larger asset managers in the region. The Connected Caribbean Summit will help us to spread our wealth creation mandate for financial empowerment across the region,” noted Edwards.


Petipha Lewis, chair of CARICHAM.

Petipha Lewis, chair of CARICHAM, a network of Caribbean business chambers, reiterated the call for regional businesses to work collaboratively. “If we have to thrive in today’s competitive global climate, we will have to work together to build capacity and effect the change we want to see,” Lewis said. “We are looking forward to the robust outcomes at CCS 2024.”

AFFORDABLE TELECOMs
Also present at the media launch was Rodney Taylor, secretary general of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), who underscored the need for uniform, affordable, and resilient telecommunications for the region. “The inter-Caribbean telecoms roaming rates are low as compared to what they were, but we have to work towards eliminating roaming in the Caribbean altogether,” said Taylor. “We are not there yet, but we are getting there, and this summit links government, private sector and civil society … to accelerate positive change for our region”, added the CTU secretary general.

This third staging of the Connected Caribbean Summit will cover a wide range of issues ranging from public policy, law enforcement, private-sector innovation, artificial intelligence and its impact on the region.

Notably, the prime minister of Grenada and current chair of CARICOM, Dickon Mitchell, will officially open the Connected Caribbean Summit and will speak on the topic: ‘Accelerated Development – Balancing Political, Policy and Societal Priorities’.

Regional collaboration will be at the epicentre of CCS2024, with a power-packed agenda featuring a mix of keynote presentations, panel discussions, group forums, and working groups. The Apex Academy, a collaborative partner of the summit, will be staging masterclasses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, where regional experts will share customised solutions for the attendees at the Summit, as well as for online participants.

Over the four days of the summit, there will be opportunities for professionals to meet, share ideas, and create strategies for collective technological advancements in the Caribbean region. Focused sessions will delve into building interconnectivity across the region, knowledge sharing on best practices, as well as how AI and digitisation can enhance operational efficiencies in Caribbean courts and the regional justice sector overall.

The Connected Caribbean Summit 2024 will be held at Hilton Miami Airport Blue Lagoon, Miami, Florida, from December 9 to 12.

It is being hosted by the Caribbean Agency for Justice Solutions, the Network of Caribbean Chambers of Commerce, and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, the Connected Caribbean Summit, in partnership with the American Registry for Internet Numbers, the Caribbean Network Operators Group, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission.

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