ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES DISCUSSION OF UN ROLE IN PROMOTING DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES DISCUSSION

OF UN ROLE IN PROMOTING DEVELOPMENT

Speakers Raise Issues Concerning Information and Communication Technologies

GENEVA, 2 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council this afternoon continued its discussion on the role of the United Nations in promoting development, particularly with respect to access to and transfer of knowledge and technologies, especially information and communication technologies.

Most of the speakers who took the floor this afternoon stressed the role of the United Nations in promoting information and communication technologies through partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the private sector.  They also emphasized the need for the exchange of technologies among countries to better enhance their development strategies.  Many speakers said they appreciated the establishment of the information and communication technologies Task Force as a sign of progress, and underlined the role of the international community and its responsibility in bridging the "digital divide".

Before adjourning its afternoon debate, the Council heard a brief presentation on the "Information Society Index (ISI)" by the President of World Times Inc., Crocker Snow.

Statements were made by the representatives of the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Australia and Peru.

The Council will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday 3 July to continue consideration of its agenda item on the coordination of the policies and activities of the specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system related to information and communication technologies.

Statements

LEE JAE-GIL (Republic of Korea) said economic actors, both public and private, had a new window of opportunity for development through digital technologies.  There was hence an opportunity for developing countries to make an information and communication technology (ICT) economy-based leap.  But missing capacities, infrastructural inadequacies, and in some cases official impediments were in many cases blocking such progress, creating the so-called "digital divide."

Agreement had been reached on the actions and cooperation needed for digital cooperation, in part through establishment of the United Nations ICT Task Force, along with relevant networks.  There should be, at the national level, the

creation of a better environment for embracing communication and information technology through transparent and consistent legal and regulatory frameworks, sound and effective policies, and a solid, scientific and technological basis for development.  The international community should spare no effort to assist countries to take advantage of digital opportunities, and should explore new areas of cooperation.  The Republic of Korea in the year 2000 had invited 331 overseas trainees to ICT-related programmes, and this year would give training opportunities to more than 800 men and women from developing countries.

YURI FEDATOV (Russian Federation) said that in the era of globalization, communication technologies had become one of the major factors in promoting sustainable socio-economic development of countries and the world economy.  On their own, modern communication technologies could not solve problems of development overnight, even in the most developed countries.  They could, however, be a powerful catalyst of progress in many areas.  Promotion of ICT should not replace but complement and facilitate efforts aimed at technological modernization in basic sectors of the world economy and solution of socio-economic problems.  As the "information revolution" brought about both new opportunities and evident risks and challenges, the main task was to make every effort to put information technologies at the service of all countries.  The international community had a special responsibility to ensure that ICT promoted development and bridged the "digital divide" between those who succeeded in reaping the fruits of the "information revolution" and those who, due to various reasons, were not able to enjoy its benefits.

The United Nations, being a universal body and having moral authority, should play a leading role in elaborating internationally recognized goals and targets in ICT development.  The most important event in that area recently had been the establishment of the ICT Task Force, composed of representatives of governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academic circles, and United Nations agencies.  In principle, the Russian Federation agreed with the majority of the recommendations contained in the report presented under that agenda item.

PETER HAYWARD (Australia) said his country felt strongly that developing ICT required maximizing partnerships with relevant key stakeholders, including the private sector.  Domestically, Australia was investing substantial sums and carrying out activities under its "Backing Australia's Ability" programme, a key element of which was the Information and Communication Technologies Centre of Excellence, which would ultimately employ 250 persons and was intended to create world-class ICT research capability within Australia.

Internationally, AusAID, the Australian Agency for Development, had recently announced the World Virtual Colombo Plan Initiative, which in part would undertake a study in cooperation with the World Bank to assess the opportunities presented by ICT to improve education and access to knowledge in developing countries.  Over the past five years, Australia had provided more than $109 million in assistance to partner developing countries for such activities as provision of computer equipment and software, upgrading of information technology systems and related training, and had provided scholarships to more than 190 students from developing countries to study relevant subjects in Australia.

JORGE VOTO-BERNALES (Peru) said he was satisfied by the progress made concerning the digital divide and appreciated the role of the United Nations in promoting the progress.  Peru supported the effective implementation and coordination of use of and access to information and communication technologies. 

Peru fully agreed that the information and communication technologies would enable better coordination and cooperation among countries.  Further, as had been suggested, the adoption of a new model of trade would be a matter of justice.  The exchange of information and communication technologies would allow developing countries to acquire more knowledge.  The principle of knowledge for all would also enable developing countries to have access to the information which was vital to their development.  In recent years, the Peruvian Government had enhanced the spread of knowledge about and use of technologies, such as the use of the Internet.  At present, 13 per cent of the population owned computers, while 46 per cent used telephones.  At the national level, the number of people using the Internet service had passed from 208,000 in 1998 to 800,000 in 2000, which was due to the expansion of public cabins for the use of the Internet. 

CROCKER SNOW, of World Times Inc., giving a presentation on the Information Society Index (ISI), said an attempt had been made to measure the extent that different countries had travelled along the information highway; the ISI was intended to measure the ability of societies to access and absorb information; it was a kind of gross domestic product for "information wealth".  Some 23 variables were used to measure progress.  The results indicated that there was a serious problem -- those countries with the largest populations tended to spend the least on ICT.  The 55 countries measured by the ISI represented 99 per cent of all global ICT spending, 77 per cent of the global population, and 97 per cent of global gross domestic product.  One finding of the study was that the "information revolution" could not happen if the social structures necessary were not in place.

The Scandinavian countries were at the top of the index; developing countries and countries with large populations tended to rank towards the bottom.  The countries with the largest populations, India and China, ranked fifty-second and forty-ninth, respectively.  Among the conclusions reached by those carrying out the ISI was that political will was vital for progress in ICT; that public-private-sector cooperation in ICT could happen effectively; that geographical proximity to a major information society, such as Canada to the United States, was a help; that investment and Government policy in ICT could have major short-term results; that the gap between the haves and the have-nots was widening; that countries that had not privatized their telephone systems had not fared well; that home-grown entrepreneurship seemed to work best; and that computer infrastructure development was a primary driver of ICT progress.  The situation in Africa was sobering, and in fact the index even had trouble obtaining sufficient and accurate information on ICT for African countries.

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