CARIBBEAN DIPLOMATS TO PARTICIPATE IN WORKSHOP ON E-GOVERNMENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POLICY IN ROME AND TURIN, 20-31 OCTOBER

CARIBBEAN DIPLOMATS TO PARTICIPATE IN WORKSHOP ON E-GOVERNMENT, INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY POLICY IN ROME AND TURIN, 20-31 OCTOBER

Twenty-seven diplomats and specialists in information and communication technology (ICT) from 12 Caribbean countries will participate in a two-week workshop in Italy from 20 to 31 October 2003, in order to further their knowledge about the information society and improve their negotiation and communications skills.  The workshop is organized by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The workshop aims to build capacity on information and communication technology policies and prepare participants for the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, December 2003 and Tunis, 2005).  National and regional ICT and e-government strategies, laws and regulations of Internet governance, and ICT and e-government readiness and feasibility are also on the agenda.  The first week of the workshop will take place at the School of Public Administration in Rome and the second week at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization in Turin.

This is the third and final session of the Capacity-Building Programme for Diplomats.  Participants in the first session (16-27 June 2003) came from eight Eastern European countries, namely Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Serbia and Montenegro, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine.  The second session  (30 June-11 July 2003) brought together participants from eleven African countries, namely the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and the Sudan.

In 2002, the Government of Italy also sponsored the International Conference on e-government for Development in Palermo, Italy that raised awareness of economic and social opportunities offered by e-government for developing countries and the use of ICT technology to foster democracy, efficiency and transparency.

For more information on this and related events, please visit:  Workshop for the Caribbean countries -- http://www.unpan.org/directory/conference/guest/ browseoneconference.asp?conference_id=1609; Workshop for Eastern European countries -- http://www.unpan.org/directory/conference/guest/browseoneconference. asp?conference_id=1524; Workshop for African countries:  http://www.unpan.org/ directory/conference/guest/browseoneconference.asp?conference_id=1525; Knowledge Management Branch Web site:  http://www.unpan.org/dpepa-kmb-about1.asp; Contact persons:  Jerzy Szeremeta (szeremeta@un.org); Angela Capati-Caruso (capati-caruso@un.org).

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