THE Organization of American States (OAS) is preparing to provide further assistance to the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in modernizing the operations of the country’s Civil Registry.{{more}}

During a visit on Thursday, March 4, 2010, by the Caribbean Coordinator for the OAS Universal Civil Identity Program in the Americas (PUICA), Paul Hughes, stakeholders at the Civil Registry and at the Ministry of Telecommunications, Science, Technology and Industry were informed on the details of the project, which provides for the digitization and preservation of records; modernization of the legal framework; installation of a modern computer system; and creation of an identity system.

PUICA seeks to build on the OAS’ original project at the Civil Registry, which was executed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from 2001 to 2006, which permitted the Registry to both transfer its records to electronic form and commence the electronic printing of vital certificates.

The new project, which is being funded by the Government of Canada, is expected to provide assistance primarily in the form of advisory services, training, hardware and software.