BELIZE CITY, Belize, March 14, 2009 – Prime Minister and Political Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Honourabe Tillman Thomas has updated regional Heads of Government on Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) at the just concluded Twentieth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Belize City, Belize. Mr. Thomas, the lead Head of Government with responsibility for Science and Technology, was accompanied to the Belize meeting by Mr. Oliver Joseph, Permanent Secretary with responsibility for Trade in the Ministry of Finance and Ms Cyrilla Steele, Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the official communiqué of the meeting, Heads of Government accepted the need for Member States to re-examine the management and coordination of the various components of ICT4D at the national level and in this regard, agreed to establish national committees to guide and inform these reviews. Heads of Government also agreed that their governments would support the convening of a meeting of Ministers responsible for ICT in May 2009, at which the draft Regional ICT Policy and Action Plan will be presented for consideration, the communiqué said. Prime Minister Thomas also gave signature to three legal instruments at the meeting including an agreement establishing the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and an agreement relating to the Operational of the CARICOM Development Fund. Mr. Thomas also signed a Protocol Amending the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to incorporate the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement as an Organ of the Community and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security as an Institution of the Community. Click here to read the Full Text of the Communiqué of the Twentieth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Belize City, Belize, March 12-13, 2009. Reprinted from ndcgrenada.org INSIDE GRENADA NEWS