Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare has launched the Information Technology Society of Solomon Islands (ITSSI).
A statement by the Office of the Prime Minister says the establishment of the organization provides an “excellent opportunity for the Government to obtain its professional views on the draft National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Policy.”
“The ICT Policy would be an important document upon which legislation governing the country’s use of emerging technologies will be formed,” said Prime Minister Sogavare.
He says the first meeting he had with the ITSSI last week, impressed upon him the pivotal role it would like to play in help shaping this policy.
Mr. Sogavare says that national security, social order, and effective governance would be amongst many of the agendas topping the government’s list of issues that must be addressed within the proposed National ICT policy.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sogavare says information technology is an effective way of obtaining and disseminating information that is both good and bad and this is a ‘policy dilemma’ one that the government and ITSSI must work together in addressing to avoid ‘throwing the baby with the water.’
He says the ITSSI has a pivotal role in establishing such standards as technological advances waits for no one.