The last meeting of the United Nations General Assembly?s meeting took place on June 17-18, 2000 and was devoted to information and communication technologies for development. The meeting addressed the digital divide in the context of globalization , the development process and promotion of Coherence and synergies between various regional and international information and communication technologies initiatives. The meeting will also contribute to the preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society. It is expected that many countries will be represented by high-level officials responsible for communications and for development.
The meeting included two informal panels on "How can ICT address the digital divide to leverage development to meet the Millennium Summit goals building on public-private multi-stakeholder partnerships for promoting digital opportunity", and "The United Nations role in supporting efforts to promote digital opportunity, in particular in Africa and LDC?s: challenge of inclusion in the world economy through ICT". The informal sessions took place besides the formal plenary meeting.
The informal panels featured key guest speakers and major international figures in the field such H.E. Mr. Abdul Mejid Hussein, Perm Rep of Ethiopia, (Vice President of the General Assembly), HE Mr. Jose-Maria Figueres-Olsen, Chairman of UN ICT Task Force, Ms. Debra Dunn, Vice-President of Hewlett-Packard, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and CEO, TAGI, Ms. Zoe Baird, President, Markle Foundation (USA), Mr. Toomas Ilves, former Minister of FA, Mr. Tengku Shariffadeen, President of MIMOS (Malaysia), Mr. Walter Fust, Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, H.E. Mr. Jean-David Levitte, Perm Rep of France (Vice President of the General Assembly), Mr. Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), etc.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh?s speech focused on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Revolution . He said that "Our future, that of our children, and that of our countries depend on understanding a global economy driven by technology. Understanding that code, particularly genetic code, is today?s most powerful technology". He added" As new disciplines and technologies emerge, you don?t win the game by just producing knowledge , you also have to protect it and most importantly apply it"
He concluded by calling for exporting knowledge so that it can be used by a broader network and its value would increase.
The meeting on ICT comes at a time of great emphasis on the significance and bearing of the new technologies for the developing world. The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, stressed the need to reach out to marginalized groups, recently said that ICTs hold great promise for economic development, healthcare, and education as well as for strengthening civil society, promoting democracy, and making governments more open and accountable, urged both the public and private sectors to take sustainable action to bridge the digital divide that exists between the world?s rich and poor.
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