​By Aabigayle McIntosh

Antigua and Barbuda are gearing up to explore the benefits of adopting India Stack, aimed at revolutionizing the country’s Information Technology platform.

India Stack, a national identification and digital payments infrastructure, has provided formal identification credentials to all citizens and brought millions into the digital economy.

It consists of two major components: a unique identifier for each citizen and a digital payment infrastructure. Antigua and Barbuda, along with several other countries within Caricom, signed onto the agreement in 2023.

Both sides have agreed to cooperate in areas of digital transformation through capacity building, training programs, exchange of best practices, exchange of public officials and experts, and development of pilot or demo solutions.

Information Minister Melford Nicholas, who signed the agreement on behalf of the government, recently discussed with the Indian High Commissioner based in Guyana the possibility of providing further collaboration.

“So, I expect by June of this year, post-SIDS, there will be a return to India and an opportunity for us to avail ourselves of some of that development. There is going to be a fertilization of our team to expand their horizon,” Nicholas said.

Minister Nicholas also addressed the adoption of specific codes tailored to suit Antigua and Barbuda’s unique situation.

“We are gaining more capacity, so while we are building a website today, we will also be able to construct some of the map locations utilizing their code. They have essentially offered to coach us through the evaluation and audit process to ensure the code has all the necessary security measures. It’s like a hand-holding experience,” the minister added.