Willemstad, Curaçao. August 16, 2007. The Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC) announced this afternoon the signing of a framework cooperation agreement with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).
From left to right: Raúl Echeberría, Ray Plzak and Bernadette Lewis signing the Caribbean Cooperation Agreement
From left to right: Raúl Echeberría, Ray Plzak and Bernadette Lewis
Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Raymond Plzak, Executive Director and President of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, and Raul Echeberría, Executive Director of the Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean, met in order to sign this agreement that concludes negotiations initiated several months ago with the aim of facing some common challenges within the region of the Caribbean. The agreement was signed within the framework of the Third Caribbean Internet Governance Forum, which is currently being held in the island of Curaçao, Dutch Antilles.
"With this agreement we are creating an interesting force for the advancement and stability of the Internet in the Caribbean, avoiding duplications, and incorporating the vision of the signing organizations," were the enthusiastic words of Raul Echeberría, Executive Director of LACNIC, who also highlighted the fact that this agreement will allow a better integration among the three regions involved.
"It is very important for us as an organization to be able to come closer to the Caribbean's diverse community." The Latin American representative also observed that "considered as a whole, we are a multicultural, linguistically wealthy community that speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Dutch, in addition to the languages of the descendants of native inhabitants which can be counted in the thousands."
The three representatives of the regional organizations emphasized the importance of this cooperation agreement that will allow mutual assistance in technical areas and human resource training, creating awareness on currently relevant issued that impact the sustained growth of the Internet, but mainly "providing mutual support for the technological and cultural Integration of our diverse communities," they added.
The organizations signed a framework agreement that covers, among other items: cooperation on common issues within the framework of their general objectives to avoid duplicating expenses and efforts; organizing capacity-building activities; organizing events and seminars to facilitate the adoption and effective use of the Internet, etc., all of this within the framework of the Caribbean community.
The complete version of the agreement is available at:
http://lacnic.net/documentos/ctu_arin_lacnic_declaration_of_cooperation.pdf
About the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU)
The CTU was established in 1989 by Heads of CARICOM Governments to aid in rationalising the telecommunications policy framework for the region and to address the problems of regional spectrum frequency incompatibilities. In recent times, the CTU has emerged as the primary facilitator for the formulation of Caribbean ICT policy and a major contributor to the development of ICT capacity within the region.
About the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
ARIN is a nonprofit company that provides services related Internet number resources in its service region, which includes Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States. ARIN’s headquarters are located in Chantilly, Virginia.
About the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC)
the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC) is the organization, based in Montevideo, which administrates IP address space, Autonomous System Numbers (ASN), reverse resolution and other resources for the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), on behalf of the Internet community.
For Further Information, LACNIC Press press@lacnic.net
