BASSETERRE – The Council of Ministers of the Regional Security System (RSS) are meeting at the St Kitts Marriott Resort today to review a number of critical matters including extra-regional cooperation which has implications for training and security operations to tackle drugs, arms and human trafficking.
Also on the agenda is cybersecurity, which is of growing interest to the Caribbean region with recent reports of the hacking of Government websites and other criminal actions.
The dangers of such were underscored by the president of the Inter-American Development Bank Luis Alberto Moreno in a 2016 report entitled Cybersecurity – Are We Ready in Latin America and the Caribbean? He wrote “that the vast majority of our countries are not yet prepared to counteract cybercrime.”
Other topics on the agenda for discussion include a witness protection programme and financing options for the RSS.
The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis and Minister of National Security Dr Timothy Harris in his capacity as the outgoing chair of the Council of Ministers.
According to the official website www.rss.org.bb, the Council of Ministers is the supreme policy making body of the RSS. It is comprised of ministers of national security from the six member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The RSS was formed in October in 1982 to provide a collective response to security threats in the region. (SKNIS)