The Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda (CCA) reinforced its commitment to advancing trade digitalisation and facilitating the digital transformation of its member states in the Caribbean at the Caribbean Telecommunications Union’s (CTU) ICT Week 2024, held in St Kitts and Nevis from 30 September to 4 October 2024.
As part of the event, CCA presented to regional Ministers during the Joint Meeting of CTU’s 51st Executive Council and 30th General Council of Ministers on the activities and technical support available through the Commonwealth’s Working Group on Legal Reform and Digitalisation. Established by Commonwealth Trade Ministers in 2023, the Working Group provides resources, advocacy, technical assistance, information sharing, and policy recommendations to assist Commonwealth member countries in navigating the legal reforms necessary for a smooth transition from paper-based to paperless trade.
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CCA also hosted a half-day workshop on legal reform and digitalisation, aiming to improve regulatory frameworks for digital commerce among member states.
The workshop highlighted the potential gains to the Commonwealth Caribbean members states’ trade, based on the CCA’s Quantitative Analysis on the Move to Paperless Trade. The study identified clear economic and political imperatives to accelerate digital trade and legal reforms for digitalisation, with nearly $1.2 billion in additional Commonwealth trade waiting to be unlocked.
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The CCA also contributed to ICT Week’s Regulator’s Forum by presenting strategies for designing and implementing Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) systems to Caribbean regulators. This assisted Commonwealth member states in understanding how to prepare and build RIA institutions, design embedded and sustained RIA procedures, and design realistic and relevant RIA methods to their national contexts.
Finally, CCA participated in a panel on at the Cybersecurity Awareness Forum, discussing the implications of digitalisation on national and regional security with a focus on the policy implications for digital transformation and the measures that can be taken to build robust frameworks.
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These engagements reflect the CCA’s broader mission to support Commonwealth member states in fostering digital trade facilitation, enhancing regulatory frameworks, and promoting secure digital environments across the Commonwealth.
Learn more about the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda for Trade and Investment
