[WSIS CS-Plenary] UN Alliance on Closing Digital Divide Meets Next Week

[Dr. Francis MUGUET]

Hi !

Sorry I have been busy  lately but
Why nobody has been talking about this ?

Best

Francis
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http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/101111


  UN Alliance on Closing Digital Divide Meets Next Week

Sep 20, 2006 /News Release/
/"Countries concluded at the 2005 World Summit that the internationally 
agreed development goals will not be achieved unless we do development 
differently"/

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will open the first-ever meeting at the 
United Nations of the newly formed Global Alliance for Information and 
Communication Technologies and Development <http://www.un-gaid.org> 
(GAID) on September 27. Chairing discussion of Alliance strategic goals 
will be Intel board chairman Craig Barrett.

Launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 19 June, the Alliance promotes 
action to utilize new information and communication technologies to 
fight poverty and promote development.

In addition to Barrett, other Steering Committee members attending 
include Jamaludin Jarjis, Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and 
Innovations Minister; Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the 
Inter-American Development Bank; Walter Fust, director-general, Swiss 
Agency for Development and Cooperation; Titi Akinsanmi, program manager, 
Global Teenager Project, South Africa; John Bernander, 
secretary-general, Norwegian Broadcasting, European Broadcasting Union; 
Renate Bloem, president, the Committee on NGOs, Switzerland; and Guy 
Sebban, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce.

The Steering Committee, which provides the Alliance with executive 
oversight and guidance, is composed of a chair, Barrett, and several 
co-chairs representing governments, business, civil society, the media 
and international organizations.

The meeting will open at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 8. Remarks by 
Secretary-General Annan and welcoming remarks by Under-Secretary-General 
José Antonio Ocampo will be followed by a statement from Mr. Barrett.

An interactive discussion will examine the strategic goals and business 
plan of the Global Alliance, followed by a discussion on the Alliance's 
funding.

"Countries concluded at the 2005 World Summit that the internationally 
agreed development goals will not be achieved unless we do development 
differently," said Alliance Executive Coordinator Sarbuland Khan. "One 
of the ways to do that is connect the poor with the rest of the world, 
with the formal economy, through information technologies."

ICTs can help in the areas of enterprise, education, health and 
government, said Khan, allowing the poor to participate in the economy. 
"Many developing countries have strong growth rates, but the poor are 
not part of the growing economy."

GAID will seek to bring together the private sector and international 
financial institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, in 
big partnership initiatives, such as bringing broadband to Africa, Khan 
said.

In countries like Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Ghana, mobile telephony 
is locally driven and demand driven, Khan said. The greatest growth of 
mobile phones is taking place in Africa, and women are using mobile 
phones to generate businesses and income. "The issue now is how to get 
mobile telephony to be a conveyor of information and knowledge on health 
and the economy. For this, you need the private sector."

The Alliance seeks to bring together key organizations involved in 
ICT-for-development to enhance their effectiveness; introduce 
ICT-for-development into the broader development agenda; create an 
environment and business models for investment benefiting the poor; find 
technological solutions for specific development goals; and foster 
partnerships among all those involved. Partnerships and new initiatives 
are expected to be announced at the closing of the 27 September meeting.


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Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D 

MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
Associate Publisher
http://www.mdpi.org   http://www.mdpi.net
muguet at mdpi.org       muguet at mdpi.net

ENSTA   Paris, France
KNIS lab.  Director 
"Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS)
muguet at ensta.fr   http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet

World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
Civil Society Working Groups
Scientific Information :  http://www.wsis-si.org  chair
Patents & Copyrights   :  http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair
Financing Mechanismns  :  http://www.wsis-finance.org web

UNMSP project : http://www.unmsp.org
WTIS initiative: http://www.wtis.org
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