4th National ICT Development Committee meeting opens today

Prime Minister Joe Natuman as Minister responsible for ICTs & Telecommunications, Joe Natuman, will deliver the opening speech as well as chair the 4th National ICT Development Committee (NIDC) meeting today.

Following an inaugural meeting of its NIDC in January 2013, the Government of Vanuatu has continuously set in motion a number of actions to address unresolved issues in its ICT and telecommunications sector. In May, the National ICT Policy, the Universal Access Policy (UAP) and Cybersecurity Policy were launched and today, for the NIDC meeting, stakeholders intend to move closer to an effective use of these policies.

The Prime Minister said that “the objective of this meeting will be to review the progress of the National ICT Policy implementation, which identifies numerous ways in which ICTs can help us all achieve a just, educated, healthy and wealthy Vanuatu”.

The importance of the ICT sector to Vanuatu’s national development will be once more emphasised. ICTs are crucial and could help deliver quality education in the remotest areas of Vanuatu, improve health services, contribute to the accessibility of government services, as well as increase efficiency of current economic activities.

For the NIDC meeting, all stakeholders agree to work together to compile all the information needed to decide on the next course of action.

“The outcome of this meeting will be to get an update from our stakeholders on their progress towards implementing the goals of the National ICT Policy” said Jackson Miake, ICT Programme Manager and Secretary of the NIDC. “The outcomes will result from the deliberations of this meeting which will highlight issues, challenges, successes, recommendations and directions for respective agencies to take.”

During the meeting, the Committee will also give an update on the implementation of the decisions from the previous NIDC meeting but also give a report on the progress of several matters such as the implementation of the Universal Access Policy (UAP) or the Cybersecurity policy objectives. This meeting will also enable sectors to provide an update on priority goals in ICT in Education, Health, Justice, Climate Change as well as Customs and Inland Revenue.

“The success in achieving the National Vision relies on joint and collaborative efforts of each and every stakeholder. Together we will shape the direction of Vanuatu” said Fred Samuel, the Government Chief Information Officer.