Abu-Ghazaleh Chairs GAID Board Meeting

 

The meeting preceded Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh?s summit with the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon


NEW YORK -------February 8, 2010--------- Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, (GAID) held a meeting with the Board of GAID at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) that supports the Alliance and hosts GAID secretariat.

The meeting preceded Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh?s summit with the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon (see separate press release).

The Board meeting witnessed the participation of Mr. Sha Zukang, United Nations under-secretary-general for Economic and Social Affairs, the two Co-Chairs of the Alliance Mr. Ramon Garza, president and CEO of Indigo BrainMedia and Mr. Kamran Elahian, chairman and CEO of Global Catalyst Partners.

Steering Committee members participating in the meeting included: H.E. Mr. Ivo Ivanovski, Minister for Information Society of Macedonia, Mr. Richard Hall of Intel Corporation, Mr. Pietro Sicuro of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Mr. Armen Orujyan, President of ATHGO International, Mr. Jeffrey Huffines of CIVICUS, Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director of the Division of Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Ms. Samar Al-Labbad, Deputy Chair of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization. Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Ulf Pehrsson of Ericsson and Mr. Jaroslaw Ponder of the International Telecommunication Union and Mr. Sarbuland Khan, Honorary Advisor to the Chairman of GAID in addition to several United Nations staff members and members of the secretariat of GAID.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh gave a briefing on the outcome of the meeting held with the United Nations Secretary-General which was also attended by Messrs. Garza, Elahian and Hall.

Participants congratulated Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh on his unprecedented success in getting the Secretary-General?s acceptance of the Chairman?s invitation to be the Honorary Chair of the Alliance and to extend his personal patronage to the initiative to create a Matrix of ICT Solutions for Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Advancement in which all agreed that it was indeed a ?historic day? for the future work of the Alliance.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh proposed that the designation of the governing body of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development be changed from the Steering Committee to the Board of Directors to bring it into accordance with general practice. The motion was supported by all participants, as was the Chairman?s proposal to designate Mr. Richard Hall as Vice-Chair of the Alliance.

The main thrust of the discussion at the meeting of the Board was on how to strengthen the Alliance?s contribution to United Nations Development Agenda and, in particular, the achievement of the MDGs. The Board decided to re-focus the work of the Alliance in 2010 on supporting the achievement of the MDGs and, to this end, approved a revised Plan of Action for 2010.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh shared his Proposal on constructing a Matrix of ICT Solutions for MDGs Advancement that he had earlier presented to the Secretary-General who endorsed the concept and approaches outlined in the Proposal. The Chairman offered his ideas on the concrete aspects of the organization of work on the Matrix to ensure its timely and effective preparation and launch. The Board endorsed the Chairman?s proposals.

The meeting also discussed a proposal to launch the work of a Declaration on Rights in the Information Age initiated by Mr. Ramon Garza, co-chair of GAID and the chairman?s initiative on using ICT for protection of life and property. The Board also addressed a number of important organizational matters such as future GAID events, including major activities during the last week of the World Expo in Shanghai in October, as well as organizational and financial aspects of the work of the Alliance and its governance.

The Board welcomed the appointment of the new Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Global Alliance, Mr. Sergei Kambalov, to succeed Mr. Sarbuland Khan, who will continue to assist GAID as an Honorary Advisor to the GAID Chairman, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh.

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