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By Outside Contributor -October 30, 2021

The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) held its 42^nd Meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday, October 28^th virtually. Considering the increased reliance on data, mobile devices and computers to facilitate remote work, online learning and shopping among other tasks, ECTEL’s role as a regional regulatory body for electronic communications has become even more important.

ECTEL is made up of three components – a Council of Ministers, a regional Directorate and a National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) in each Member State, namely the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Council of Ministers comprises the Ministers responsible for Telecommunications in the ECTEL States; the Director General of the OECS is an ex-officio member. Their responsibilities include giving directives to the Board of Directors on matters arising out of the Treaty, and ensuring that the Board is responsive to the needs of the Member States in the implementation of telecommunications policy.

Annually, the chairmanship is rotated to provide each Member State the opportunity to serve as head of the Council of Ministers. The incoming Chairman is the Honourable Stephenson King, Senior Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Ports, Transport, Physical Development and Urban Renewal (Saint Lucia). Minister King’s predecessor is the sole female on Council, Honourable Akilah Byron-Nisbett, Minister of Health, ICT, Entertainment, Entrepreneurship and Talent Development (St. Kitts and Nevis).

As the current Chairman, Minister King will be providing an overview of the major outcomes of the 42^nd meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday, November 4^th at 10 a.m. Additionally, he will be joined by members of ECTEL’s Management Team. The Press Conference can be watched live on the Government Information Service’s (GIS) – Saint Lucia Facebook Page – search for Government of Saint Lucia or on Saint Lucia Government on YouTube as well as on the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority’s Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/ectel/.