In the city of Santiago, Chile, the CE-Digital programme for training in the Digital Ecosystem was launched in the last week of April. This initiative is jointly organized by CAF –Development Bank of Latin America-, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its role as technical secretariat of eLAC and GSMA. The objective of this programme is to offer telecommunications training opportunities to regulators and policy makers in Latin America.
With the participation of the Undersecretary of Communications of Chile, Pedro Huichalaf, the launch of the CE-Digital programme took place on 25 April.
In the opening participated Fernando Rojas, Coordinator of the regional broadband observatory of ECLAC, Mauricio Agudelo, Senior telecommunications specialist of CAF and Sebastián Cabello, Head of Latin America of GSMA. The Undersecretariat of Chile, Pedro Huichalaf, provided an overview of the telecommunications sector in the country.
In his welcome address, Fernando Rojas highlighted the important role played by new technologies in the economic and social development of the region and in increasing inclusion and equity. “Promoting the development of ICTs in the region is critical and presents constant challenges to reduce the divide with developed countries; therefore, public policy and regulation must evolve along with these challenges, and it is in this context that CE-Digital is presented as a tool to promote the development of these technologies”.
Mauricio Agudelo emphasized that “the programme will be a tool to strengthen the skills of policymakers and regulators in the region thanks to the courses which offer the most updated knowledge on telecommunications”. Sebastian Cabello highlighted the relevance of a programme such as CE-Digital to “promote better regulatory understanding, which helps connect everything and everyone to a better future”.
During this week two training courses were also delivered: “Competition Policy in the Digital Age”, by the telecommunications expert Ernesto Flores-Roux, and “Internet of Things” by Stefano Nicoletti, M2M Regulatory Manager of the GSMA.
More than 50 participants attended the courses from ministries, undersecretariats and universities of the region.