Come July 12th 2009, CANTO will present its 25th Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition in Trinidad & Tobago, home of the CANTO Secretariat. The theme: “Advancing the Caribbean through Information and Communication”, setting the stage for CANTOs Connect the Caribbean (CTC). The silver jubilee event, which runs through to July 17 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, will be Co-hosted by the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).

Connect the Caribbean, is about connecting the people of the region to the information super highway by 2015. To achieve this objective, CANTO will clearly require a strong public private people partnership approach.

In any multi-stakeholder initiative like CTC, the building of strong relationships is a critical success factor. One of the key principles of CTC is developing strong and effective stakeholder relationships. This is why CANTO has spent the last year seeking to build and strengthen its relationships with regional governments and agencies involved in information and communication technology. It says partnerships built around commitment to core principles, open dialogue, trust, and clear lines of regular communication, are necessary if the CTC initiative is to be successful.

CANTO 2009 delivers more value than ever before:

• A world-class ICT exhibition featuring over 90 industry leading companies.

• Over 20 thought provoking sessions

• Keynotes on subjects ranging from Sustaining Growth in the Current Economic Climate to Strategies for Developing Models for Convergent Networks

• Events such as Mobile Innovation, WiMAX Forum, NexTV Workshop, Regulatory Forum and Ministerial Panel.

• On opportunity to promote growth and development in the region through the CANTO Connect the Caribbean Project

• Networking events that highlight the culture of Trinidad and Tobago