Guyana cannot afford to stay in the IT wilderness any longer, according to the President of the Information Technology (IT) Providers' Association of Guyana, Lance Hinds.

Speaking at a public forum on "The role of information and communications technology (ICT) in Guyana's development" at the Hotel Tower on Wednesday night, Hinds noted that Guyana is behind its CARICOM and Latin American neighbours in the use of ICT.

He urged that a realistic drive be initiated if opportunities for development and partnership with these neighbours are to be derived.

According to Hinds, the private sector must utilise ICT to improve efficiency and to lower production costs.

He noted that unreliable power supply was also hindering any serious attempt by the business sector at conversion to ICT. He estimated that investing in ICT costs up to 45% more because of this problem. He remarked that this prohibits many businesses from taking part in any ICT revolution.

The need to diversify into "knowledge-based industries" was also advised by Resident Representative of the UNDP in Guyana, Richard Olver. Olver stated that the knock-on economic effects of the events of September 11 in the US will inevitably make development more difficult for countries like Guyana.

This made more urgent the need to diversify the agro-based economy to explore the potential for ICT.

Government is already forging ahead in the pursuit, according to Head of the Management Information Systems Unit at the Ministry of Finance, Rachel Sankar.

Sanker suggested that the agriculture, health, education and tourism sectors were ripe to benefit from ICT and set out short term goals in building a culture of innovation to include:

*The establishment of an IT office and developing an action plan

*Reforming the telecommunications sector

*Developing the local IT industry and encouraging investment

Rounding off a series of presentations by leading figures in the ICT sector, Vidyaratha Kissoon, co-ordinator of the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) in Guyana, recognised the link between ICT and development and through this poverty reduction.

Referring to poverty eradication development imperatives laid out at the UN Millenium Summit in New York, Kissoon highlighted several areas for focusing ICT applications.

In the field of health, he noted the potential for further dissemination of information and telemedicine. Distance learning could revolutionise the education system via ICT applications whilst government also had the potential to increase the empowerment and participation of the general public through the use of technology.

Kissoon stressed the need to engage with alternative software systems to avoid the huge costs associated with the big name software companies such as Microsoft.

He noted the importance for countries like Guyana to consider 'Open Source Software' resources such as Linux which is free.