GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Cornelius de Weever extends congratulations to all telecommunication-sector workers on the occasion of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), which will be internationally observed on Thursday, May 17.
The theme for WTISD is “Enabling the positive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for All.”
“This is the first WTISD day post-Irma. The most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic caused severe damage to our telecommunications infrastructure. Despite the limitations and obstacles, our telecommunication providers were still able to get systems back online within a short period of time.
“I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the people, and the Government of Sint Maarten, to congratulate our telecommunication workers and management for their dedication and resilience in overcoming the obstacles that presented themselves right after the passing of hurricane Irma and Maria.
“The telecommunication workers and management worked diligently to get us back connected with the outside world allowing for families and friends to be able to communicate with each other near and abroad.
“Having said the aforementioned, the 2018 WTISD day theme presents opportunities for us which should be explored. As we build back better, we have to see where we can use AI as we move forward in building resilience in our telecommunications and information technology infrastructure,” Minister Cornelius de Weever said on Wednesday.
May 17th has been identified as a day to help raise awareness of about the potential of AI to accelerate the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
In recent years there has been significant progress in AI technology, made possible by tremendous advances in contributing fields, such as Big Data, machine learning, computing power, storage capacity and cloud computing, among others.
AI-based technologies are already emerging as a key component of proactive tools and applications being used to help people lead better lives by improving healthcare, education, finance, agriculture, transportation, and a wide range of other services.
May 17th marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 and the creation of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
