TRAINING SEMINAR ON INTERNET FOR FRENCH-SPEAKING AFRICAN PERMANENT MISSIONS HELD IN NEW YORK, FROM 4 TO 11 APRIL

Training Seminar on Internet for French-speaking African Permanent Missions

held in New York, from 4 to 11 April

NEW YORK, 10 April (DPI) -- The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) and the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF) are holding a Training Seminar on the Internet for French-speaking African Permanent Missions at United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 4 to 11 April.

The participants, representing 20 permanent missions, will be trained to set up Web sites and to present their missions and their activities.  They will be also introduced to information resources on the United Nations system and Francophone organizations’ Web sites.

The seminar is part of an initiative by the Department to promote the use of the Internet as a tool to support economic and social development efforts pursued, in particular, by the United Nations and the OIF, and to increase communication in this sector.  It is also viewed as a contribution to efforts to bridge the "digital divide" between developed countries and developing countries.

The seminar is part of a joint project developed in 1998 by the United Nations and the OIF.  To date, similar training seminars have been organized in Abidjan (July 1999) and in Beirut (October 2000 and April 2001). The Abidjan seminar, conducted in French, brought together 20 specialists of institutional communication, representing ministries of information and communication, education and planning and/or development, from nine French-speaking countries in West Africa.  The first seminar held in Beirut, conducted in Arabic and French, was attended by 40 communication specialists from ministries located in 13 countries in North Africa and the Middle East.  The second seminar held in Beirut, also conducted in Arabic and French, brought together 30 representatives of foreign and local media based in Lebanon.

A similar seminar for Spanish-speaking permanent missions was also organized by the DPI in March 2001 in New York.

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