Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah
Chief Executive Officer | Over the past one hundred years, the CTO has contributed to the development of our member countries, principally through the instrument of telephony. As a result of Constitutional changes that took place in 2002, the CTO has been presented with a wide open vista of new opportunities, as the CTO transforms itself into a catalyst for the continued growth and development of our member countries through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The new CTO of the next one hundred years will be more than a telecommunications organisation, more than the association of telecom operators as it has been in the past and more than the organisation of nearly only Commonwealth governments that it is today. The new CTO will be a dynamic partnership of member governments, member regulators, member development agencies, member financial institutions, member foundations, member NGOs and member civil society organisations, all committed to the overarching task of using ICT to facilitate global cooperation and especially to accelerate the development of our member countries. In order to fulfil its new Constitutional mandate, the new CTO must do five principal things over the next few years: it must continue to offer opportunities for capacity building in the ICT sector through targeted training to selected officials in institutions in member countries; it must become and be seen as an effective conduit for bridging the digital divide and as a centre of cutting-edge knowledge on ICT issues for the benefit of its members and the global community at large; it must become more relevant to the needs of its member countries, especially its developing member countries, by becoming more engaged in the processes of social and economic development, in particular by promoting the use of ICTs in the cardinal fields of agriculture, education, health, e-commerce and e-governance; it must become an instrument through which its partners, especially those from the industrialized world, become more knowledgeable about opportunities for transactions in the ICT sector in other member countries; and it must widen its membership and attract and embrace many institutions and associations that form part of the brave new world of ICT in a variety of collaborative arrangements.
The new CTO must embark on a membership diversification strategy and programme whilst working to attract telecom operators, ICT product manufacturers and service providers of all kinds into the organisation sector members. In addition the new CTO must extend to cover regulators, development agencies, financial institutions that fund CTO operations, consultants and civil society organisations. We look forward to your continued support, collaboration and potential membership. |