WESTERN ASIA PREPARATORY CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SOCIETY SUMMIT CONCLUDES; ANNOUNCES DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND ‘BEIRUT INITIATIVE’

WESTERN ASIA PREPARATORY CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SOCIETY SUMMIT CONCLUDES;

ANNOUNCES DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND ‘BEIRUT INITIATIVE’

(Reissued as received.)

BEIRUT, 6 February (UN Information Service) -- The Western Asia Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society concluded today at the United Nations House in Beirut by announcing two main documents: the Declaration of Principles and the “Beirut Initiative”, in the presence of Lebanese Minister of Telecommunications Jean-Louis Kordahi and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Mervat Tallawy.  Organized by ESCWA under the auspices of the President of Lebanon, the Conference represented an important opportunity for Arab States to begin bridging the knowledge gap they are facing. 

Speakers at the closing session were:  Mr. Kordahi and Abdulilah Dewachi, Regional Adviser of Communications and Computer Networking at ESCWA, who was also responsible for authoring the final text.

Mr. Kordahi said that the effort invested in the three-day meeting was aimed at taking clear stances in preparation for the Council of Arab telecommunications ministers to be convened in Cairo in June 2003, and for the first phase of the Information Summit to be held in Geneva in December 2003.  He added that all drafts, remarks and deliberations would be taken into consideration and would be available for future reference on the ESCWA Web site.

The outcome of the Conference will be submitted to an Arab team that is due to meet at ESCWA on 7 and 8 February in order to prepare for the Cairo meeting.  The team will consider the possibility of proposing the “Beirut Initiative” for endorsement in Cairo.  The Cairo meeting is intended to present a final document, which will include the joint stance of the 13 ESCWA member States and the other Arab countries, to the Information Summit.

Mr. Dewachi briefed the audience about the two documents.  He highlighted the priorities as they were adopted by the Conference, including the formulation of a practical information and communication technologies (ICT) policy through the removal of socio-economic barriers between privileged and unprivileged segments of society; through narrowing the IC divide; and ensuring homogeneous availability of ICT for all.

Priorities also included pursuing of e-government, e-business and intraregional trade through electronic networks, e-learning, e-education and improving Arabic e-content.

“The Declaration should assist governments and enterprises in their endeavour to formulate policies and take necessary actions to ensure the proactive inclusion of the region in the information age”, Mr. Dewachi noted.

Then, an abridged version of the “Beirut Initiative” was read.  It said its final form would constitute a comprehensive action plan indicating how Arab countries in the region might approach the transition into the information society, both individually and collectively.  It also stated that new technologies possessed enormous potential for accelerating growth and enhancing social development.  Therefore, the “Beirut Initiative” promotes socio-economic and innovation policies conducive to the creation and upgrading of effective physical ICT infrastructure.

For more information, contact Nabil Abu-Dargham, ESCWA,

tel:  (961-1) 981301; fax:  (961-1) 981510; e-mail:  www.escwa.org.lb/wsis

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