BRADES, Montserrat (March 25, 2010) – “We must innovate,” says Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) to attendees at the Executive Lecture Forum on Wednesday morning at the Montserrat Cultural Centre.

Lewis heads the organization which is spearheading a regional tour promoting the use of information communication technology (ICT). The Caribbean ICT Roadshows began last July and so far six nations have held roadshows.

The Montserrat leg of the ICT Roadshow, which will be held here April 21 to 23, was officially launched by the Honourable Minister of Communications, Works & Labor Charles T. Kirnon before the forum began. He gave his thanks to the CTU for inviting Montserrat to be a part of the promotion of ICTs across the region, adding that the government had in the past seven months approved several key legislations to enable the island to take advantage of available technology. Minister Kirnon cautioned that as we look towards a more technologically advanced community we should be ever mindful of our past and seek to grow with the wisdom of our experiences as a guide.

“The world has changed,” Lewis said as she charted the progress of language over time during her presentation. She reiterated that we now have the potential to speak to every human being across the globe because of the technology available. “The constraints of time have been eliminated and now the pressure is on us to respond to every email or text we receive. Time has been compressed,” she added. She encouraged the business and community leaders present to embrace the use of technology as it was a tool that can empower Montserrat in its redevelopment.

Wednesday’s Executive Lecture Forum was sponsored by the CTU and the Government of Montserrat and is a pre-cursor to next month’s roadshow.

ICT Roadshow Montserrat will take place over three days at the Montserrat Cultural Center from April 21 to 23, 2010. It is intended to bring together novices, innovators and some of the Montserrat’s and the region’s leading experts in the field of information and communication technology (ICT).

Ronald Hines, Managing Director of Teleios Systems of Trinidad & Tobago facilitated the round table discussion on “ICT Innovation for small states”. Sitting on the panel were Denzil West, Director of the Department of Information Technology and E-government Systems (DITES); Bevil Wooding and Bernadette Lewis from the CTU.

More information on the ICT Roadshow Montserrat is available at www.ictroadshow.ms