INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY APPLIED DURING DISASTERS HAS SAVED MANY LIVES, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TOLD

Press Release
ECOSOC/5898

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY APPLIED DURING DISASTERS HAS SAVED MANY LIVES, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TOLD

Information and communication technology (ICT) applied during natural disasters had saved many lives and reduced the negative impact of catastrophes such as Hurricane Mitch, Gerardo Zepeda Bermudez, National Minister/Commissioner for Science and Technology of Honduras, told the Economic and Social Council this morning.

As the Council began the last day of its three-day high-level segment, part of its 2000 substantive session, Mr. Bermudez stressed developing the technology further "to strengthen our readiness". Those technological advances were particularly relevant in a world where half the people lived on less than a dollar a day.

He said that Honduras, with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other entities, had developed the first solar village. A second would be established soon. Such processes allowed remote areas to be connected with the rest of the world. High-speed wireless technologies could offer distance learning. His country would host a conference on application of ICT for remote communities and present the experiences of solar villages, which were a model of how the digital gap could be closed through the application of technologies.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said special initiatives were required because of the particular problems faced by women in the areas of connectivity, capability and content. Women had time constraints as nurturers and lower levels of literacy. She said it was essential that gender mainstreaming be part of all programmes targeted at overcoming the digital divide, and that 50 per cent of all funds be directed towards women and girls.

Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), stressed that the international and national public sector's role was principally an enabling one -- reforming the policy environment to encourage inward ICT private investment, and the spawning of domestic ICT sectors providing portals, content and connectivity. In addition, the public sector had a partnership role: stimulating the business plans, strategies and relationships that would carry the private sector into uncharted markets.

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Economic and Social Council - 1a - Press Release ECOSOC/5898 15th Meeting (AM) 7 July 2000

S.A. Ordzhonikidze, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said the problem of information security deserved special attention. It was imperative, he said, to prevent the use of information technologies for purposes incompatible with the objectives of ensuring international stability and security.

One of this morning's keynote speakers, Jay Naidoo, Independent Consultant and former Minister for Communications of South Africa, said that as the world prepared for the United Nations Millennium Assembly this Fall, the digital gap had reared its head as the distinguishing factor in deciding whether the world let people live or die. The ICT were bringing images of suffering in parts of the world that were stark enough to melt the hearts of the hardest politicians and touch their conscience. Those images were the impetus to say: enough is enough.

Bruce W. McConnell, President of McConnell International, made the other keynote address this morning. He stressed the need to ensure that the digital divide did not become a chasm that could not be bridged. Should that occur, a great opportunity to bring the world into a twenty-first century that was equitable and human would have been lost. The United Nations was in a unique position to make a difference in the outcome, and to turn the digital divide into a true digital opportunity.

Statements were also made this morning by the: Minister for Science and Technology of Venezuela; Minister of Industry, Trade and Marketing of Lesotho; Director-General for International Cooperation of Uruguay; Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Croatia; and the Minister Delegate in Charge of Economic Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance of Burkina Faso.

The representatives of the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Czech Republic made statements as well.

The Chairman of the Committee for Development Policy and the Secretary- General of the International Chamber of Commerce also addressed the Council this morning.

Interventions were also made by the Chief Executive Officer of S.A.P., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WorldTel, Senior Vice-President of MCI WORLDCOM, and the Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems.

The Council will meet again at 2.30 p.m. today to hold a panel discussion on the main theme of the high-level segment –- “Information and Communication Technology and Development: Global Challenges and Regional Initiatives”. At 3:30 p.m. it is expected to hear the balance of speakers, adopt a Ministerial Declaration and conclude the high-level segment of its 2000 substantive session.

Council Work Programme

The Economic and Social Council met this morning for the final day of its three-day high-level segment, which began on 5 July. The main theme of the segment, which initiated the Council's 2000 substantive session, is "Development and International Cooperation in the Twenty-first Century; the Role of Information Technology in the Context of a Knowledge-based Global Economy.

(For background on the session see Press Releases ECOSOC/5896 dated 6 July, 5893 dated 5 July and 5892 dated 28 June.)

The Council had before it this morning a note by the Secretary-General on the themes for the high-level and coordination segments of the substantive session of 2001 of the Economic and Social Council(document E/2000/65).

The note contains the proposals of Member States, bodies of the United Nations system, and intergovernmental bodies for the themes for both the high- level and coordination segments of the 2001 session.

The note states that in its agreed conclusions (1999/2), the Council determined the parameters of a linkage between the preparatory work for its high- level segment on African development to be scheduled before 2002, and the final review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. In light of that and based on an evaluation of the New Agenda, the Secretary-General recommends the following themes for the Council's consideration at the high-level segment of the substantive session of 2001: The role of the United Nations in promoting socio-economic development of Africa in the twenty- first century.

According to the note, in the Council's preparations for its current high- level segment on information and communication technology, it was underscored that some of the vital needs of the poorest of the poor could be effectively met with current resources and currently available technology. This, however, did not happen, primarily because the private sector, operating on a profit and loss basis, did not have adequate incentives to provide these goods and services.

At the same time, continues the Secretary-General, it is known that private business is actively exploring modalities to take a more active role in contributing to the improvement of the global social situation. Currently, this exploration is undertaken primarily via private foundations that are actively looking for appropriate partners, effective channels and, notably, for certain guidance as to the more urgent and feasible areas and activities for them to finance.

In addition, the Secretary-General continues, the existing web of non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and government multilateral agencies involved in providing and facilitating aid is complicated, multilayered and uncoordinated. As a result, private business is sometimes discouraged rather than supported in its attempts to enhance its social responsibility profile through partnerships with other developmental actors.

The United Nations is uniquely positioned to spearhead these partnerships and define priorities and effective and efficient modalities, continues the Secretary-General. He therefore recommends that the coordination segment of the Council’s 2001 substantive session address the following: “complementing the markets: the role of the United Nations in forging new partnerships for addressing the needs of the world's poor”.

The Council also had before it a report of the Committee on NGOs (document E/2000/82) on requests from organizations to be given hearings by the Council in connection with items on the agenda of the current substantive session. The organizations are listed in the document.

Keynote Addresses

JAY NAIDOO, Independent Consultant and former Minister for Communications of South Africa, said by way of a video telecast that there were beacons of hope in the sea of poverty that existed in Africa. As Minister for Communications, he had participated in the programme that had rapidly spread telecommunications in his country. The technology that enabled him to participate in the Council’s high- level segment represented the future of the world. Africa, however, had little infrastructure. It couldn’t put in the most modern equipment. In light of the dire facts communicated during the high- level segment about the digital divide, the central question was: what was to be done?

The global village could not continue to grow without including Africa or any part of the developing world, he declared. The United Nations had been established to spread peace and development. The present period of moving from the industrial to the information revolution presented a watershed era for humanity. As the world prepared for the Millennial Assembly, the digital gap reared its head as the distinguishing factor in deciding whether the world let people either live or die. Information and communication technologies (ICT) were bringing images of suffering in parts of the world that were stark enough to melt the hearts of the hardest politicians and touch their conscience. Those images were the impetus to say: enough is enough.

The answer, then, was to face the challenges presented by technology, he said. The first challenge was posed by leaders, who were often threatened by the technology and information revolution because it demanded accountability. Giving people information was an opportunity to advance democracy, however. Giving people information also presented governments with an opportunity to make a hard investment in the people through the ICT sector.

As borders collapsed, he continued, thinking had to expand from national to regional considerations, while governments had to think of policies crossing lines. The ICT presented opportunity for new players, new investments and lower costs. Competition enabled universal access and created opportunities for training young people and moving them out of poverty, both within countries and internationally. Investment and partnerships could drive the expansion of technology in the developing world, particularly through the World Bank. But there had to be a level playing field -- the developing world felt increasingly marginalized, which only increased the “have or have not” mentality, which amounted to “neocolonialism”.

The technology revolution could be a powerful leveler of inequalities, he said. It drove the forces of globalization. While economic independence was more pronounced today than ever because of technology, it was seen to empower only those already in the world of capital. “However, we cannot afford to throw away the baby with the bathwater”, he said. Including all people in the technological equation presented the real promise of bringing development to all parts of the world.

Africa was in worse shape now than it had been earlier in the twentieth century, he said. There was a certain “Afro-pessimism” at the heart of the marginalization of Africa. The biggest challenge of the day was to integrate Africa into the global society. The ICT and the Internet could close the development gap between Africa and the rest of the world.

African leaders could find solutions to Africa’s problems and the African renaissance could put responsibility into the hands of the people. Historically, Africa had been the site of the greatest civilizations and trading areas that had ever existed. It could become that again with the moral, economic and social support of the United Nations. Bureaucratic hurdles should not stand in the way. A new African initiative would help Africa share the hope so much of the developed world already had about the future.

BRUCE W. MCCONNELL, President, McConnell International LLC and Facilitator, ICT Focal Point Network for the United Nations Working Group on Informatics, said the United Nation role in fighting the “Y2K” bug had been unique in the way that it addressed the problem. The Working Group on Informatics, in cooperation with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other United Nations organizations and development banks, and over 20 private sector organizations, had built a trusted global network of Y2K coordinators and public and private sector experts.

The work of fixing computers and preparing contingency plans did not take place at regional meetings, but at home, inside every country and organization, he said. Here the electronic network came into play. The Web made it possible to keep the programme together and to avoid a public panic based on misinformation. That effort had been successful.

There was now a new network of ICT focal points from the governments of nearly 120 countries participating in an electronic web, he said. The principal issue that the group had addressed to date was information security. That effort, while good, was much less than was needed. There was a need to share the best practices in using information for development to save countries from wasting precious time going down blind alleys. There was also a need to create an ongoing, trusted network of governments, and to enable that network to cooperate with a broad-based group of private sector organizations.

Today there was a bigger threat than Y2K, he warned, namely that the digital divide would become a chasm that could not be bridged. Should that occur, a great opportunity to bring the world into a twenty-first century that was equitable and human would have been lost. The United Nations was in a unique position to make a difference in the outcome, and to turn the digital divide into a true digital opportunity.

Statements

CARLOS GENATIOS-SEQUERA, Minister of Science and Technology of Venezuela, said he was not sure that the development of ICT and the strengthening of the digital economy could guarantee global development and eradication of poverty. The best option within the growing horizon of the digital society in the perspective of the fight against poverty might be the improvement of human resources to increase potentials and develop internal markets, creating new opportunities and working capabilities.

All participants had insisted on the need to increase connectivity, capabilities and content as indispensable components for the progress of ICT, but the real opportunity had to do with human resources development, which meant education at all levels. Efforts should be conducted to raise connectivity levels, education of teachers and content creation in an environment of regional development that should be obtained by the strengthening of local point without loosing a global perspective, he said.

A particular effort should be carried out so that loans generated by multilateral organizations could be provided in a faster and simplified way, seeking cost reduction and proposing standardized procedures that could be employed by each country under similar conditions, specially loans related to ICT education, he said. The possibility of following special procedures such as the ones employed for Y2K emergencies, should be evaluated.

He stressed the need to create regional observatories on ICT. Those would encourage knowledge of capabilities and potentials, giving a better perspective for investments, research development and education. Regional workshops should be carried out by the end of the year in order to produce vanguard perspectives in the regions that could mobilize educational transformation within countries.

MPHO MALIE, Minister of Trade, Industry and Marketing of Lesotho, said the speed of ICT advances was of particular significance for Lesotho, as it was among the African countries with the lowest Internet connectivity. With Unites States assistance, the country had developed an initiative for accelerating Internet connectivity in the country.

A necessary condition for the realization of the benefits of ICT was an adequate and efficient telecommunications infrastructure, he said. There were plans in his country to invite significant private sector participation in the country’s State-owned telecommunications company. The thrust of his Government’s programme in ICT development was to maximize the benefits of the technology for the average citizen. Three areas of activity were important in that regard: education, health and “e-governance”.

As for e-governance, the concern was to bring government services to the general public as effortlessly and quickly as possible. Several initiatives had been undertaken, one of which concerned the forthcoming general elections. It was expected that several electronic communication systems would be put in place to enable computer-based collaborative work. Satellite-based telephones might be deployed, and different vendors had been invited. A by-product of that exercise might be more communication facilities to the communities well after the elections.

For a country such as Lesotho, in which 80 per cent of the population lived in rural areas, the concern was how to ensure that the benefits of ICT reached that large majority, he said. There were some major obstacles to overcome such as the availability of power. Possibilities offered by solar energy should be addressed, and new wireless technologies offered hope, but all those dreams could not be realized unaided. The international community needed to resolve to make a compact for those who were better endowed to come to the aid of those were less so.

CARLOS ORLANDO, Director General for International Cooperation of Uruguay, said ICT could lead to better jobs for the dispossessed. In every society they could help those who were marginalized become integrated. They could lead to better transparency in governance. There were avenues to enable people to learn the new technology, such as the new creation of civic centers that could become the heart of a community’s entry into the information-based economy.

That couldn’t be achieved on a global scale without the involvement of the international community and of multilateral funding organizations. The socioeconomic development process needed to use ICT tools to increase the reach of its efforts. The private sector should be involved in reducing the present digital divide hampering development. To not harness the private sector was shortsighted, but countries needed to do their share in such areas as training teachers to teach ICT tools to children. Education, therefore, was still key to development.

ICT was a central issue in development, he said. South America had undertaken numerous initiatives to bring the technological revolution to its countries, including through forums.

GERARDO ZEPEDA BERMUDEZ, National Minister/Commissioner for Science and Technology of Honduras, said since the new ICT had emerged, their role had proven to be important. It was a true revolution. Thanks to the possibility of informatics, problems not solvable in the past were now being solved more effectively and faster.

The ICT applied during natural disasters had saved many lives and reduced the negative impact of, for instance, Hurricane Mitch, he said. To strengthen readiness, the technology had to be further developed. HONDUNET was providing interconnectivity in universities, laboratories, research institutions and governmental institutions in his country. Honduras had given impetus to involvement in the global e-commerce market. It had organized training programmes and virtual educational programmes.

Those technological advances were particularly relevant in a world where half the people lived on less than a dollar a day. Honduras had, with support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other organizations, developed the first solar village. A second solar village was to be established soon. Such processes allowed remote areas to be connected with the rest of the world. High-speed wireless technologies could offer distance learning. It was also a first step towards a wireless telephone network for rural areas, he said.

His country would host a conference on application of ICT for remote communities and present there the experiences of the solar villages, which were a model of how the digital gap could be closed through the application of technologies. He appealed to the international community for support for those efforts and said the issues should be discussed and promoted in the United Nations. Only in that way could the information age benefit all people.

DUBRAVKA JURLINA ALIBEGOVIC, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Croatia, said the issue was how ICT could be used to generate development. Most important in that regard was the fact that convergence in communication and computing technologies and the decline in the cost of information had made knowledge more accessible. Knowledge and information had now become commodities of value in the new economy.

Her country was paying special attention to the reorganization and modernization of its education system, which involved incorporating ICT. About 25 per cent of high schools had modern information equipment and were due to be connected to the Internet. Computerization in the civil service and Internet connection was gradually increasing. During the last 10 years, her country had developed a fixed, digital phone network which had been partially privatized.

In joining global communication trends, her Government had initiated certain short-, medium- and long-term activities, relating to adjusting the legislative framework for a more liberal information policy, increasing Internet connectivity and content, and using ICT as a catalyst in the long-term development strategy of the county, she said.

Recent events in Washington and Seattle pointed to disaffection connected to the perceived one-sided nature of globalization. Doubtless, she said, the new economy had the potential to liberate the world of many of the challenges associated with achieving sustainable development. The current differential access to information and knowledge must be made more equitable.

S.A. ORDZHONIKIDZE, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, commended the Secretary-General's report and its proposals. The problem of information security deserved special attention. It was imperative to prevent the use of information technologies for purposes incompatible with the objectives of ensuring international stability and security.

The digital divide, he continued, could only be overcome through the coordinated efforts of the international community within the framework of a close and constructive partnership of both governments and business circles, NGOs and institutions of civil society. While ICT should be an important part of efforts to stimulate lagging economies, it should not substitute for other important development concerns, and should not force out traditional technologies from economic, social and cultural spheres. However, the share of funds allocated to ICT components needed to gradually increase in the context of training and technical assistance programmes.

ANNE KONATI, Minister Delegate in charge of Economic Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance of Burkina Faso, said the high-level meeting was taking place at a time when it seemed everything had already been said about cooperation being needed to make the benefits of ICT reach all people. Yet little evidence of that knowledge could be seen. While ICT had swept away borders, half the world’s people weren’t even aware of them. There were many reasons for that, including tariffs imposed on developing countries and the debt burdens those countries carried, along with the decline in loans and Official Development Aid (ODA). Finally, lack of skills prevented people in developing countries from taking part in the technological revolution, particularly those in the least developed countries.

For every 1,000 people in Burkina Faso, there were still only four telephones, she said. The Government had offered opportunities for improving the conditions, such as by liberalizing communications and opening that area to the private sector. That had created a veritable explosion in that realm, but the reality was that it hadn’t gone very far. To begin with, the revolution had applied only to the urban areas. In addition, there was a huge gap in mastering the technological skills needed to keep it booming.

What could be done for Burkina Faso and other such countries so they could use technological tools to fight poverty and enhance democracy? she asked. New technologies should take such conditions into consideration. In countries where education was insufficient, new technologies should be applied to addressing that need. New technologies were not a panacea. Other factors needed to be taken into consideration. International organizations and the United Nations should ensure people were helped to use the technological tools for their development.

MARK MALLOCH Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that looking for innovative applications of ICT for development was already one of UNDP's top priorities, and it was committed to taking the lead in the United Nations family on that issue. After pioneering digital telecentres in Egypt and Ukraine, and helping to wire East Timor and Mongolia, it was now necessary to develop new local, national and global strategies to help mainstream and maximize the impact of those initiatives for the poor.

He stressed that the international and national public sector's role was principally an enabling one -- reforming the policy environment to encourage inward ICT private investment, and the spawning of a domestic ICT sector providing portals, content and connectivity. In addition, the public sector had a partnership role in stimulating the business plans, strategies and relationships that would carry the private sector into uncharted markets.

Competition was the best way to develop ICT infrastructure, he said. It led to greater investment, decreased prices, rapid user growth and new technology development. That in turn required political will to encourage that competition as well as credible and autonomous regulatory bodies. But governments also needed to focus on education and entrepreneurship. Any country seeking to be a player in the new knowledge economy had to undertake major commitments to spread literary and some basic ICT knowledge across society, including the poor.

He said governments must also address cultural barriers such as the need for local content preparation at a time when nearly 90 per cent of Web documents were in English. Only when those cultural barriers were overcome could the countries start taking full advantage of commercial applications, from helping small business advertise on the Web and expanding their markets, to building real national ownership through traditional e-commerce initiatives tailored to developing-country constraints. Entrepreneurship was driving the ICT revolution in the developed world and it was a key to long-term success in the developing one too.

NOELEEN HEYZER, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), stressed the importance of ensuring that the benefits of ICT were equally available to women and men. It took too many years to recognize that micro-credit, education and health -- when provided to women -- created unparalleled benefits for children, communities, and countries.

Special initiatives were required because of the particular problems that women faced in the areas of connectivity, capability and content. Women had time constraints as nurturers and lower levels of literacy. They also benefited more from content produced closer to their locales in their own languages.

She said it was essential that gender mainstreaming be part of all programmes targeted at overcoming the digital divide, and that 50 per cent of all funds be directed towards women and girls. She also expressed UNIFEM's support for the numerous recommendations related to gender equality made by the high-level panel of experts, and said that the Fund was ready to offer assistance in creating a policy and regulatory framework for ICT that could benefit from the diverse perspectives that gender equality in knowledge-based economies would bring.

SUN JOUN-YUNG, (Republic of Korea), said that, in order to overcome the digital divide, bold policies should be elaborated at the national level to develop human resources, build capacity, attract investment and foster democracy with a market-based economy, underpinned by transparency and good governance.

At the international level, public/private sector cooperation should be encouraged, he said. It was vital to promote a "Digital Compact" between private sector entities and the United Nations. The United Nations also needed to play a role studying effects of cultural development on cultural diversity, ethics, business ethics and other areas.

The Republic of Korea was ready to share its experience as one of the fastest growing ICT markets with developing nations. It had already trained some 500 technicians, while also providing assistance for the establishment of the Information Technology Centre for Africa.

FAWZI SHOBOKSHI (Saudi Arabia) said that double standards and selectivity in international relations threatened the few achievements of the developing countries. Besides experiencing a population explosion, those countries were burdened with backwardness, debt and development challenges. Many of them were living on the margins of international economic changes, awaiting the fulfilment of pledges to which the rich countries had committed themselves.

While emphasizing his country's strong support for the principles of a multinational trade system within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said there were mounting doubts about the fairness of the system. The prevailing perception among developing countries was that they did not have a share in the privileges implied in the multilateral trade system, and were deeply convinced that the current Uruguay Round agreements had not been fully implemented.

He called on the developed countries to open their markets to products from the developing world and to discontinue protectionist policies. Countries of the North were still creating obstacles in the face of products from the developing countries. In spite that, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were striving to penetrate the markets of the developed countries to sell their petro-chemical products.

ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) said ICT offered infinite possibilities to further resolutely the development process and to maximize the benefits of globalization. Far from being virtual, ICT impact on development could easily be measured and assessed in the numerous applications in such varied areas as commerce, e- commerce, finance, governance, distance learning, distance medicine, agriculture and monitoring the environment.

There were numerous indicators that the “digital revolution” was creating inequalities between the countries from the North and the South, he said. In general, the South had a considerable lag in that area which should be of concern to the international community -- the United Nations system in particular. That divide had to be bridged as soon as possible for it not to grow further. The ICT was not a miracle cure for the problems of the South, but could facilitate the process of development and promote the integration of those countries into the world economy.

In order to succeed in introducing ICT in the development process, certain conditions would have to be met, such as institutional and human capacity able to absorb the new technologies, infrastructure in terms of connectivity, and the capacity to adapt ICT and give it local content. Even though it had become aware early on of the possibilities of ICT, Africa had needs for investment in education, institutional capacity and infrastructure since it was faced with limited savings, huge debts, deterioration in trade and decline in ODA. Democratization through ICT was a moral necessity and a useful investment. He hoped that the discussions in the Council would strengthen consensus on the urgency to support development in the area of ICT.

VLADIMIR GALUSKA (Czech Republic) said his Government established the basic policy for informatics. It also set out ICT goals and guided their development, taking into account such measures as outsourcing and subcontracting. ICT use for environmental purposes was increasing, as it was for social services. Still, the Internet was not equally available to all and steps were being taken to widen its availability.

By the end of this year, his country would have a nationwide ICT system in place, he said. That included protections for copyrights and ownership. Being committed to social equalization and accessibility, his country welcomed the social aspects of ICT.

JUST FAALAND, Chairman of the Committee for Development Policy, said his group, at its April session, had at the Council’s request considered the role of ICT in both development and the process of globalization. It had concluded that if the benefits of ICT were to transform the development process, both technologies and infrastructure had to be fully and widely accessible. That necessitated national and international policies, funds and resources for installing and maintaining telecommunications facilities and other infrastructure.

The poverty of many countries and the costs involved posed a major constraint in their capacity to take advantage of new opportunities, he said. Further, a minimum level of literacy and numeracy was required for the assimilation, adaptation and application of relevant ICT knowledge. The population needed to include trained workers and specialists able to avail themselves of opportunities presented by the ICT revolution. Tackling the perennial problems of illiteracy was a prerequisite for realizing ICT potential.

There were some concerns about the effects of ICT becoming established in the economies of developing countries, he said. One was the impact of ICT on the volume and pattern of employment. With ICT, whole categories of jobs could emerge, disappear or be subject to a brain-drain phenomenon between countries. Such concerns did not call for the restricting of economic growth forces in developing countries, nor for slowing their entry into the global economy. Rather, precautionary policies were needed, as were new and additional financial resources.

WOLFGANG KEMNA, Chief Executive Officer of S.A.P., said he was in favour of a pragmatic approach towards the issue of connectivity and infrastructure. That approach dealt with public-private partnerships in which he was prepared to take part. His company had developed software in more than 40 languages and was truly multi-cultural.

Connectivity and infrastructure were a prerequisite for his company to succeed on a global level, he said. Infrastructure, provided by telecommunication companies, ensured that software solutions could be deployed globally. He said that value-added processes were not limited to industries. Value was added increasingly in public/private partnerships and NGOs and that process had to be supported.

A challenge to be addressed was how to disseminate software solutions, he said. There was also a great need to focus on the human being. It was important to provide a point of contact for ICT solutions -– for example, an easily accessible user portal.

Where ICT could make a real difference, he said, was in the area of education. Knowledge was the true scarce resource of the new economy. The rapidly changing demands of the Internet economy would make life-long learning a necessity.

SAM PITRODA, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WorldTel Limited, said his firm had been born out of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and had been in business for five years. Breaking into the telecommunications business was difficult. Corruption was rampant. Price points were so formidable that it was difficult to make a telecommunications difference in emerging markets.

The WorldTel experience in India had taught it a number of lessons, he said. To implement a telecommunications system in India, for example, materials had needed to be locally made. That had created jobs, but it had required commitment from the Government to manage the complex operation.

The concept of ICT was different in India than it was elsewhere, he continued. ICT in India was not about making profit but about solving problems. For the Western world there was no need to make the connection between ICT and life, but in India it was a given. India needed many water pumps, for example. With the Internet, thousands of water pumps could be installed quickly.

He said the key to linking ICT and development was to set concrete goals -- to set a single point programme for achieving a specific aim. One could say, for example, “With the help of the Internet we will make the world literate in five years”.

JOHN CAGE, Chief Scientist, Sun Microsystems, said that this conference was going out on the Internet and would stay there permanently, because nothing on the Internet went away. That meant, for instance, that the Czech Republic's commitment to link every school to the Internet by 2003, was now on the Internet for times to come.

Every word said could now be read by someone in every country connected to the Internet. It was possible to track when every school in every country would be connected. "How do we end corruption?" he asked -- it could be done by making facts visible.

Eight million cell phones with “I-mode” had been sold to date, and they were very cheap, he said. The wireless world would reach 2 billion people by the end of 2002. The pace of change was incomprehensible.

It was imperative to create a new world using those new tools, which brought immediate, global, and permanent information. That was the role of the United Nations. The statistical functioning of the Organization had to be amplified, for example, so that hands could reach out from far away. Transparent reporting altered behaviour, and the Internet brought that transparency, he said.

VINTON CERF, Senior Vice President, Internet Architecture and Technology, MCI WorldCom, emphasized that the private sector would ultimately “wire the world”. It could not be done unless the entire system was integrated with literate people able to work on components all over the world. That required regulatory frameworks in which there was competition. The idea that information should be available to everyone was certainly consistent with the ideals put forth by the United Nations, he noted.

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