Infrastructure development

The GOG commits to:

• Conforming to all international standards;
• Reviewing all alternatives for interconnectivity both nationally and internationally;
• Developing the appropriate infrastructure to meet the objectives commensurate with socio-economic conditions;
• Establishing cost-effective and reliable connectivity through deregulation;
• Ensuring a diverse supply;
• Developing affordable, nation-wide access point system;
• Facilitating the convergence of digital media over the national ICT system; and
• Deploying the ICT infrastructure appropriately to meet the needs of commerce, education, government and legal infrastructure.

Human Resources Capacity

The GOG intends its ICT strategy to accelerate improvements in literacy, numeracy, business and education. Therefore, the GOG commits to:

• Providing an appropriate environment to facilitate ICT literacy;
• Prioritising ICT use by governmental leaders, workforce, and public;
• Training and upgrading ICT capacity for the labour force, and general public;
• Providing incentives for business to train their workforce;
• Ensuring ICT training and equipment for educators, and integration of ICT in curriculum;
• Encouraging private enterprise training institutions; and
• Creating a Technology Education Task Force to guide ICT policy in education and business.

Regulatory and Legal Infrastructure

The GOG wants to ensure an appropriate business environment within an acceptable legal and regulatory guidance. The GOG intends to:

• Enhance Grenada as an e-business hub, both regionally and internationally;
• Facilitate digital transactions safely and securely;
• Promote public confidence in ICT transaction safety;
• Promote and encourage legal and business infrastructure development; and
• Provide legal measures to combat cyber-crime.

Financial Infrastructure

To meet the demands of a new economy with e-commerce the GOG commits to the following:

• Establish an Association of Bankers in Grenada;
• Encourage electronic transaction technologies domestically and internationally;
• Provide encouragement for special financial loans for all income groups to obtain ICT equipment;
• Utilise the efficiency of e-payments for public service employees;
• Provide legal reforms to protect and encourage digital financial transactions, communications, and documentation;
• Commit to 5% of the national budget to ICT promotion and development; and
• Negotiate with external agencies for funding and technical support, along with private sector investment.

ICT Industry

To encourage this industry the GOG intends to:

• Recognise that ICT will enhance economic growth and not be the exclusive source;
• Concentrate ICT on new business opportunities to increase efficiency and marketability;
• Encourage innovative private public partnerships, create financial incentives for ICT use; and
• Recognise the potential for new ICT opportunities.

E-Government

To meet the demands of the new economy, the GOG recognises the need to:

• Increase efficiency of public services, and identify new opportunities through ICT;
• Separate policy setting and evaluation from service delivery to create opportunities for privatisation of governmental services;
• Modernise the government service delivery, documentation and data storage; and
• Maintain and protect public’s interest and access in an appropriate e-government system.

Institutional Infrastructure

The GOG plans to establish:

• Leadership structures to guide the development process;
• A national coordinating advisory council, that will report to the Minister of ICT, led by private sector professionals and involving private, public and non-governmental organisation (NGO) representation;
• Create Central Information Management Agency (CIMA) with responsibility to complete plan;
• Appoint an executive level leader;
• Create and develop a strategy and budget for the ICT plan;
• Establish an Educational Technology Task Force to develop a holistic ICT plan for education; and
• Create a Technology Evaluation and Procurement Council to facilitate government to private sector liaison.

Universal Access

The GOG wishes to promote popular usage of ICT. It will achieve this through three initiatives:

• the dissemination of email nation-wide;
• the development of a national internet exchange; and
• the provision of free national internet access.

E-commerce

To meet the needs of developing e-commerce (business to business- B2B) capacity the GOG commits to:

• Adopt electronic commerce tools to facilitate business communities or vertical market structures; and
• Develop domestic platforms to optimise international business participation.