One Digital Caribbean, should be the goal of CARICOM says Estonia President

#Basseterre, February 28, 2019 – St. Kitts and Nevis – The Caribbean Single Market Economy (CARICOM) can leap frog over regional counterparts with one strategic move and it would mean a bold step – together – into the digital age.

For nearly 45-years, CARICOM has been working toward greater synergy for its members states and associate member countries when it comes to trade, freedom of movement and employment opportunities; and this week, a European outsider gave CARICOM yet another compelling reason to amalgamate.

Smarter countries; and the President of Estonia was not talking about text book education but rather her focus at the 30^th Inter-Sessional Meeting held in St. Kitts and Nevis was getting to the place of far more e-savvy governments.

“Do it together! Have a single digital strong identity which you will commonly guarantee.  It does not matter what technology you use as long as it is secure, you can give digital signatures and you can time stamp your signature.”

President Kersti Kaljulaid, was a refreshing presenter for the regional heads of government and explained that whether it is block Chain technology or the environmentally-friendly KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure).

“I know your common strategy right now is more related to creating digital infrastructure and communications so that the information flow does not have to travel long distance and could remain in the region, and this is a very valued objective you have but I hope you would arrive at one point to the conclusion that creating a single digital CARICOM identity would be extremely beneficial to the region.”

Imagine gaining a digital identity which helps with government or national applications, medical emergencies, improves security and confidentiality.

“In our system, if somebody goes into the system, they have to identify with this same single digital identity and when I see my file, somebody has been in there I can ask why there were…  the system will send me a note to say somebody was looking at your data.  This a data protection layer which is far superior than anything you can have on paper.”

Madame President exampled Estonia’s system of e-governance, its relationship with the private sector in leading aspects of their innovative society, the benefits of harmonizing data bases to reduce repeatedly re-entering personal information or the need to memorise dozens of passwords and the extreme ease of e-voting.

Estonia is recognised as the most advanced digital society in the world.

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#onedigitalcaribbean