Hon. Vaden Williams returned to the country on Friday 2 nd March after attending the Commonwealth Data Forum 2018 in Gibraltar February 21-23 under the theme: Data
Revolution – Maximizing Opportunities and Managing Risks also GSMA Mobile World Congress Ministerial Programme, in Barcelona, Spain February 26-28, 2018
This conference was organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) and hosted by the University of Gibraltar; it attracted delegates from
various commonwealth countries from around the world.
Discussions were focused on data platform with the aim of finding solutions to facilitate economic and social change and to examine how better regulatory standards can help reduce privacy, security and other forms of data breaches. It also looked at ways to leverage the use of data for insights and to explore monetizing this growing resource. Hon. Williams was accompanied by Mr. Kenva Williams, Director of Technology and Mr. Russell Gardiner, Telecommunications Engineer of the Telecommunications Commission.
Both Hon. Vaden Williams and Mr. Kenva Williams were invited to participate in this event. The Minister chaired a session on “Big Data for Social Development” and
participated in a panel discussion on “Monetizing Data”. Mr. Kenva Williams participated in a panel discussion on “Data Centers”.
This was the first CTO event that was attended by a delegation from the Turks and Caicos Islands. Due to the discussions derived from this forum and the important role that CTO plays in fostering the development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for social development within its member states, Hon. Vaden Williams is committed to enrolling the Turks and Caicos Islands to full membership, and hopes to host future CTO events in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
