SEMINAR ON POLICY AWARENESS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, 27 JUNE

The ongoing series of Seminars on Policy Awareness and Training in Information Technology will continue on Friday, 27 June 2003, at 10 a.m., in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Chamber, with the fifth module on “Policy Awareness and Security Issues on Information Technology”.

The Seminar is organized by the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), under the auspices of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Informatics, and is implemented with the participation and sponsorship of Intel Corporation.

Opening remarks will be delivered by Ambassador Ahmad Kamal, Chairman of the series of seminars; Gert Rosenthal, President of ECOSOC and Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations; Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Deputy Chairman of the ICT Task Force; and Michael A Fors, Intel Corporation.

Alvaro Diaz, Chile’s Vice-Minister of Economics, will draw upon Chile’s own National Initiative in technology and outline the national strategies and policy frameworks applied in his country to facilitate the development of ICT.  He will present Chile’s initiatives in e-governance, providing services to citizens online and educating them to utilize these services, thus, facilitating economic development in the process.

Abdullah bin Abbas bin Ahmed, Head of Muscat Municipality (Oman) and Yaqoob Dur-Moh’d Al-Balushi, Director-General of Muscat Municipality and Supervisor of Information Technology, will share the challenges they faced when launching a municipal e-government initiative.

James X. Dempsey, Executive Director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology, will address the international rule of law pertaining to the rights of individuals and societies in cyberspace, and the legislative and governance challenges facing policy-makers.  Issues will include the right to privacy versus government pursuit of national security; whether to define limits of acceptability of freedom of speech and expression; and accessibility and globalization versus protection of indigenous culture and diversity.

After a discussion period, evaluations and closing remarks will be delivered.

The series of seminars, designed for New York-based senior and mid-level delegates from United Nations Member States, consists of a set of four progressive modules and one seminar presented as a cycle, which is being repeated five times this year.  The first four modules focus on technical know-how and are geared towards all diplomats.  The fifth module in each cycle, conducted as an interactive high-level seminar, is aimed essentially at ambassadors and senior diplomats.

For more information, please contact Enrica Murmura at the Secretariat of the United Nations ICT Task Force, tel.: (212) 963 5913; orHumaira Kamal, Special Fellow, UNITAR, tel.:  (480) 361 3672.

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