The Pacific ICT Regulatory Resource Center is currently having its Annual General Meeting (AGM). This is its second AGM and there were some interesting matters on the Agenda. I thought I should take my time to share some observations of the PiRRC. Having lived in the Pacific and having worked in diverse contexts within the Pacific (regional, industry, private sector and civil society), I can say with ease that I have a fair understanding of the regulatory environment within the Pacific region.

The Pacific ICT Regulatory Resource Center under the superb leadership of Aslam Hayat with guidance from the Steering Committee (Charles Punaha, Tepua Hunter, Criden Appi and others to name a few) have and continue to make significant inroads within the Regulatory space in the region. Building any infrastructure (particularly regulatory infrastructure) is no mean feata and the Pacific has its own sets of challenges. Aslam Hayat has to be congratulated for the manner in bringing stakeholders together, the technical expertise and resources and for the acute diplomacy in the manner in which he and the organisation and his excellent Team conduct themselves are examples to the Pacific. Whilst they are a young organisation, they definitely stand out in terms of the level of impact and encouraging regulators to share and coordinate resources, strengths etc. They make regulators want to do better. If this is what they are achieving now, I can only imagine what they will continue to achieve in the coming year.

To be frank, I am not usually a fan of World Bank developments and investment into the region because I feel that they lack the nexus that come with understanding the landscape in the region. PiRRC which was organised by the World Bank through funding has stood out and is an example of a desire to strengthen institutional capacity in the region. I can safely say that as far as regional organisations is doing a superb job.

As an ordinary netizen from the Pacific, I am very very impressed with the desire to improve and progress by Regulators in the region and I know that PiRRC has been a very prominent catalyst in this regard.