 We are well underway here at GSR 17 and I am joined today by Dr. Nikola Virgil Roel. Now she is the Director of Economic Development and Planning Unit at the Prime Minister's Office in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Dr. Virgil Roel. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Good afternoon. Now you are one of the Bahamians who will be contributing in the GSR symposium talking a little bit about collaboration and regulation. So we just want you to tell us what that has to do with the whole picture, collaboration and regulation. We are so happy to be participating in the event this week. We are going to be talking about some of our projects that we have going on within the Office of the Prime Minister. These projects are cross-multi-sectoral. They involve and touch on a number of different sectors as we think about economic development. And so we know in a world where things are not just in one silo. We have to look across regulators as we look to collaborate in our work to make sure that everything is moving appropriately. We also have to collaborate not just with regulators, but also with other stakeholders. So the public with, of course, we are the governments of the policy makers. And these are things which are not traditionally done. So we have to break through silos. We have to talk to stakeholders. And we have to work together in order to progress all these sometimes innovative ideas. Now what are you hoping to get out of GSR 17 to assist you with this collaboration with the Bahamian public, stakeholders, et cetera, and of course globally? Well, the organizers have put together really a wonderful set of workshops and seminars and panels dealing with a range of issues. I was just in the panel, the discussion on artificial intelligence, for example. Something that we have to think about as we move towards more data collection and then how do we get use out of that data? And then how do we use machines, robotics, all of these sophisticated techniques in order to help mankind and help really Bahamians have a better life? And so it's really the integration of technology into our everyday lives and how we go about doing that. So we're hoping to learn a lot through these seminars. We're also hoping to gain a lot of new contacts and interesting to broaden our networks of people doing similar types of work. So within this group there are obviously regulators, there are also people doing who are practitioners like myself who use technology. And so we're going to be having those collaborations and networking with those types of people as well. And speaking of integrating technology into our everyday lives, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Dr. Wright Honorable, Hubert Minnis, talked about this smart Bahamas initiative that the government is moving forward, moving ahead with. Now, what are you getting from this conference that's going to help with that initiative and how does that affect economic development in the country? Certainly, so that was an initiative which is run out of the office of the Prime Minister. And as the Prime Minister mentioned last year, the Secretary General from the ITU came and presented the Bahamas with an opportunity to become the first smart, NASA to become the first smart city, then New Providence, first smart island. And now we've extended that to a smart archipelago. And so out of that, we're thinking about how do we make sure that technology is integrated into development? We are, through our work on the National Development Plan, ensuring that everything we do is both sustainable. So it meets the criteria and all of the tenets of the sustainable development goals, but also that they're smart as well. So we're not using old approaches, paper-based approaches to do things that really can be done much more effectively and efficiently by integrating technology. And so the smart Bahamas, the smart archipelago program will seek to develop a master plan, first of all, for how we think about ICTs in the country, the whole architecture for managing that, as well as we want to pilot a few important projects that will definitely improve the lives of people. Well, Dr. Virgil, I think it's safe to say that this is a very timely symposium for the office of the Prime Minister, the government of the Bahamas who's moving forward with that initiative. And tell me what exactly you are hoping to gain. You talked a little bit about what you want to take away from this, but what you're hoping to gain when you get up there and speak tomorrow about collaboration and regulation. Well, we want to share, and I want to share my experiences. First of all, I've been brought up as a regulator. So I came out of a central bank from a regulatory framework. And regulators tend to think of themselves separate and apart from industry. And I think cut crossing to the other side as now a policy in the policy world with working with central government, you have a different perspective. And so you're now a user and you rely on regulation to keep things safe. You're also a promoter to make sure things advance. And so I think those unique perspectives we hope to give to the audience tomorrow about the perspectives from being a regulator and the safeguards that need to be in place, but also from the policy side to make sure that you have that approach so that you have a way to move and progress and innovate and keep industry, keep the economy moving to integrate technology. OK, my final question for you, as one of the few Bahamian contributors to this symposium, what does it mean to you to be able to present to 400 people from more than 85 countries here at home on your home soil? It's certainly an honor, certainly a pleasure to be able to do that and represent the Bahamas, to represent the government and the office of the prime minister in particular, to be able to do that. I think we have many, many experiences to share in this country. We have started off as a small island nation, really emerging to a very strong economy with ups and downs, but still very strong. So we have a lot to share in how we progressed over those years, and so we hope to be able to continue that work of sharing what the Bahamas has to offer and what we do, and so that people see our best cases and begin to utilize those and as well as so it's a two-way learning, learning from others and they learn from us as well. Dr. Nikol Fershaw Roll, thanks so much for sharing with us today at GSR 17 and best of luck on your presentation tomorrow. Thank you. Thanks.