Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 10 months ago
Funding from the European Union and a regional lending agency will help to accelerate three major Government projects which include the E-Identity programme which is set to be local and regional.

Juhel Browne has the details.
Transcript
00:00Finance Minister Colm Imbert witnessed the signing of the Technical Assistance Grant Agreement
00:06under the European Union, Latin America and Caribbean facility
00:10in collaboration with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean on Tuesday.
00:15The Finance Minister outlined some details about the cost.
00:19The grant that we are getting from the European Union
00:25and specifically the Latin America and Caribbean investment facility
00:29is in fact 3.255 million euros,
00:36which is 24.4 million Trinidad and Tobago dollars at today's current exchange rates.
00:43Free money. This is not a loan as the EU official pointed out.
00:49Minister Imbert said the grant will go a long way with respect to the preparation of three projects,
00:55one of which is the interoperability platform.
00:58And all the interoperability platform is simply allowing government ministries and departments
01:08to share information in a safe and secure manner.
01:12So you can gather information, you can share information and it's encrypted
01:18so that people can get into it.
01:20You won't be hopefully subject to be a victim of ransomware attacks and so on with this.
01:27The Finance Minister then spoke about the other projects that will benefit from the funding,
01:32the e-identity platform and the government data center.
01:35Right now you have a driver's permit, you have an ID card and so on.
01:40This will be an electronic identity system and it will be regional.
01:45That's one of the things we're trying to do.
01:47The Minister of Foreign Affairs made the point that one is hoping that this thing we're doing here in Trinidad and Tobago
01:54can be used throughout the region in terms of allowing a regional e-identity.
02:00And then the government data center will simply be the repository of all government data
02:05here in Trinidad and Tobago, run by Trinidadians and Tobagonians, owned by Trinidadians and Tobagonians.
02:12The Finance Minister said at present the government depends on the use of data centers owned and operated by others.
02:19Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Dr. Amy Brown said the grant will provide for convening regional workshops
02:26with a number of Caribbean pilot countries allowing for the free movement of people via facial recognition.
02:33So you can see the obvious connections to the free movement regime within our region,
02:39which is a core aspect of CARICOM's single market and economy.
02:44Minister of Digital Transformation Hasselbacchus expressed his gratitude to the EU
02:49and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and his staff at the Digital Transformation Ministry.
02:56Just recently we did a town hall meeting and it was interesting to note the amount of young people that we have working in this ministry.
03:04It is ridiculous the amount of young people we have.
03:07I think somewhere in the order of over 65% of our people are under 25 years of age.
03:12That should tell you where we are.
03:14And even if you wanted to take it to another level, 68% of our staff are women.
03:20The signing ceremony took place in the conference room at the Ministry of Digital Transformation's offices
03:26at the Port of Spain International Waterfront Complex.
03:30Jule Brown, TV6 News.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment