Heritage Square was buzzing with activity on Friday May 16th as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Information Technology hosted an Expo to celebrate World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), an initiative of the International Telecommunications Union.

The purpose of WTISD is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. 

Senator Camillo Gonsalves, Minister with responsibility for Information Technology, delivered brief remarks at the opening ceremony.  Students of the C.W. Prescod Primary School gave patrons a treat with their rendition of a chorale speech entitled “Broadband”.

Fifteen Exhibitors from the Public and Private Sectors, including the National Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (NTRC), LIME, Digicel and Flow, displayed their products and services to patrons while highlighting this year’s theme “Broadband for Sustainable Development”.   Information on how businesses and government agencies utilize broadband to facilitate their daily work was disseminated to students of several primary and secondary schools, as well as members of the general public who patronized the Expo.

Other highlights of the expo included:

• The display of an outfit comprising a skirt and bag made from Compact Discs (CDs) and earrings made from clips normally used on network cables.  The outfit was designed, made and worn by staff of the Information Technology Services Division (ITSD).
• An ICT museum comprising a display of early ICT equipment, such as telephones and computer media.
• A QR Codes Competition from which 5 winners emerged and each received an 8 gigabyte flash drive compliments the host, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Information Technology.
• A creative arts competition in four categories with winners and prizes as follows -

1. Painting - Shantel Quammie - one tablet compliments Digicel
2. Imitation Cake - Keith Williams - one tablet compliments LIME
3. Wood - Carlton Rodgers - one Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 compliments NTRC
4. Banana Art - Aliyah John - one Acer Iconia B1 tablet compliments ECGC

In addition, patrons were thrilled by the appearance of the “Babwa” men whom they delighted in interacting with.

The expo was also complemented by exciting giveaways by the exhibitors.