 Welcome to WTDC 17 here in Buenos Aires in Argentina where I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Bernadette Lewis who is Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Bernadette, thank you for joining us in the studio today. Thank you for the opportunity. The Caribbean has recently experienced devastating hurricanes and I wanted to ask you how crucial are ICTs in assisting countries to implement disaster risk reduction measures? ICTs are critical to the process in terms of the preparation even as the disaster is happening and in the recovery. We have been contemplating the role of amateur radio for example. They have been a staple a significant element of the communication that takes place some during and immediately thereafter and I think in the Caribbean we need to cultivate a new generation of ham operators. I don't know if this is the situation across the world but we absolutely have to do that. We have to look at the whole issue of acquisition of satellite imagery right so that you have an idea of what is there before and immediately thereafter we must have you know the images that you could see and usually the countries that have been devastated the contrast is stark and you could actually see where has been devastated and where you need to deploy resources and that is one aspect of it. Of course GIS systems also in that mix would help tremendously. I noted one of the after the passage of the first storm over one of the leaders in the Caribbean remarked well we weather the storm very well but not realizing that one of the islands had been completely devastated so communication immediately thereafter has to be in place. If you have the systems for communications they have to be exercised on a periodic basis so you know your satellite phones have been charged and ready and waiting and in a secure facility these are some of the things that we have to pay particular attention to and the last thing is yes many of seven of our 20 countries member countries have been devastated and we understand the urgency to rebuild but the devastation is an opportunity for rebuilding sustainably for rethinking what you've lost and what will survive the next year because the region the natural disasters we are we face on an annual basis the hurricanes that is that's a part of Caribbean life yes and you may be spared this year but there's a good chance that next year the following year or five years down the road you will face it again and are you going to rebuild what you've lost or are you going to build infrastructure that is designed and constructed to withstand or at least mitigate the extent of the damage and those are the sort of things that we think about talking about challenges I wanted to ask you what are some of the challenges facing the Caribbean region in integrating ICTs into socioeconomic development well the challenge is attracting investment the Caribbean countries typically we have very weak economies you know we are typically dependent on on tourism and and agriculture very small countries you're talking about populations from 5 000 yes 30 000 the majority of the ctu member countries have less than 200 000 people right it's very very small markets so it is in order to attract investment you would want you know the investors potential investors are interested in pan-caribbean operations it makes no sense going into one little tiny island you're not it's not a it's not a good business case so but the challenge has been that across the region the countries are very diverse different regulatory regimes different bureaucratic processes this adds to the cost of doing business and consequently there's a real need across the region to harmonize the the policy frameworks the legislation legislative frameworks the regulatory frameworks and this needs to happen as a as a matter of urgency the ctu one of our mandates is harmonization and we've done a lot of work in that area the area of spectrum management we have a spectrum management strategic plan for the Caribbean and in 2017 in February our heads the Caribbean heads of government they agreed to a roadmap for the establishment of a single ICT space and this I think this project is going to give the impetus that is necessary in terms of harmonizing across the region and of course that would put us in a much better position to attract investment in ICT now we've got a limited time of this interview so i'm going to ask you a few quick fire questions here the theme of WTDC is ICTs for SDGs how relevant is this theme for the Caribbean region it's absolutely absolutely relevant I as I said we are about to embark on the establishment of a single ICT space in which as I mentioned for the harmonization of of the the policy legislation regulations and of course the establishment of robust broadband infrastructure right frameworks that enable governments and and people to capitalize on the potential of information and communication technologies and of course we're looking at sustainability as a whole in this whole concept of a single ICT space what concrete actions would you like to see come out of this WTDC 17 conference well I would certainly like to to know to see that the issue of emergency ICT and emergency and disaster situations I definitely want to see that that is going forward as one of the proposals from our region the other thing I want us to speak to maybe something more of an administrative nature the development bureau has been a one-stop shop for countries small island development states you know landlocked countries I can't speak to that for the Caribbean but the BDT has been a tremendous supporting enabling organization which with which we the CTU works very closely and we would not want to see the role or the scope of the work that the BDT does we would not want to see that diminished what do you think is needed to spur greater investment in ICT networks in the Caribbean as I mentioned before you want to make sure that there is a level playing field and as I mentioned before the if we could harmonize our bureaucratic processes across the region that is going to help tremendously and what are the regulatory hurdles do you think of that harmonization um I think it's it's a case of political will they they will to do it it's not an impossible task but we have to recognize that as tiny tiny countries we cannot stand alone we have to work together we have to integrate and that is what the the whole thrust of the single ICT space it's going to do it's going to lay that digital platform to facilitate integration to give life to our Caribbean single market and economy so that is that is that is my thing the political will of course this is not unique it is a global phenomena we would really want to have our countries working more closely together finally there was a great focus this morning on women in ICTs I wanted to ask you how can women be encouraged to duplicate the success that seems to be coming through in professional leadership in women taking on more senior roles in the ICT sector I think that they now women who reach leadership positions they work 50 times as hard right it is not an easy it is not an easy journey to the top of any organization yes and I think they need to be respected the sacrifices they they make have to be recognized right and the old boys clubs are very strong and and you know that yes and we women need to support each other more right and really show be examples to the next generation of young women that are coming up that it is possible it is possible and things like we we have to be advocates for equal pay for the same work you know those are things that we have to speak out and I'm using this opportunity to speak out about those things and that women the point of the matter is any organization with a balance of men and women you find you need them both yes you need them both for a holistic approach we think men and women think differently and it is important to have both of them and in this age and especially in the Caribbean I may have said this before the majority of people coming out of universities are women yes it's it's we are changing the it's it we are capable we are able and we are up to the task right and we really have to keep hammering at that last ceiling to make sure that there's that office is there for younger people coming up after us to reach to the top thank you very much indeed thank you