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 | Group photo of the participants of the PacINET 2012 conference. |
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The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC) conference known as PacINET 2012 was held at the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre at the University of the South Pacific’s Laucala Campus in Suva from 22-26 November, 2012.
The annual forum on ICT and internet governance in the region was hosted jointly by USP and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), along with other partner organisations and sponsors.
The conference was opened by the Vice-Chancellor and President of USP, Professor Rajesh Chandra. Among the distinguished speakers who attended and presented at the opening session were Mr Martin Cocker, Executive Director of Netsafe, New Zealand and Ms Maureen Hilyard, PICISOC Board Chair, who is based in Cook Islands.
The ‘Access for all’ theme-based conference brought together many stakeholders from the various organisations to a single platform to discuss the dynamics of ICT and the internet, and how to make it accessible to all Pacific Islanders.
The five-day conference saw presentations and panel discussions from major ICT and internet development stakeholders.
While it will take time to bridge the digital divide and provide internet connectivity and access, participants were told that if partner organisations, member countries, members of PICISOC and other ICT stakeholders work together, using a multi-stakeholder platform, then people in many walks of life - ICT professionals, technicians, policy makers, government agencies, telecom operators, internet service providers, academics, lawyers, police forces, the informal sector and ICT students - will be able to share ideas and learn from experience about using ICT and the internet for development. This will go a long way towards providing access to all.
This year’s event also marked the 10 years of PacINET conferences. The very first one was held in Nadi in 2002.
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