PM Harris to attend World Bank conference focused on developing digital economy

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the World Bank have invited Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris to attend a regional conference this week titled Digital Economy Moonshot for the Eastern Caribbean.

Prime Minister Harris will attend the two-day conference on Thursday, May 23rd and Friday, May 24th, 2019 at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

According to the ECCB's Governor, Timothy Antoine, and the Director for the Caribbean Region at the World Bank, Tahseen Sayed, the Digital Economy Conference will bring together policy makers and technical teams from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as representatives of the World Bank, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), the OECS Commission and international companies.

The Digital Economy Conference aims to discuss various aspects of the digital economy, a term that was coined by global IT expert Don Tapscott in his 1995 best seller titled The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence.

The two-day meeting will also explore ways to advance the services within the digital economy throughout the Eastern Caribbean by building on the experiences and needs of the countries. This consultative process will help to inform an action plan for a regional project to be supported by the World Bank.

Deloitte defines the digital economy as "the economic activity that results from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data, and processes." The multinational consulting firm adds that, "The backbone of the digital economy is hyperconnectivity which means growing interconnectedness of people, organisations, and machines that results from the Internet, mobile technology and the internet of things (IoT)."

In the ICT Development Index (2017) published by the International Telecommunications Union, St. Kitts and Nevis ranks #37 out of 176 countries – the highest-ranking country in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis ranks second only to Barbados (#34) within the wider Caribbean in information and communication technology (ICT) development.