UNITED NATIONS, INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION INAUGURATE OFFICE

 

OF GLOBAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN ROME

ROME, 17 November (UNDESA) -- José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Pier Ferdinando Casini, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) inaugurated the office of the Global Centre for Information and Communication Technology in Parliament, here today.

The Global Centre will be engaged in modernizing parliamentary processes to increase legislatures’ effectiveness, openness and transparency and to foster inter-parliamentary cooperation through information and communication technology.  The Global Centre also seeks to reinforce the role of parliaments and legislators in promoting the legislative frameworks required for the development of sustainable information and communication technology policies and the Information Society.

“The Global Centre will serve as a clearing house for analyzing and disseminating information and experiences, and act as a catalyst to promote partnerships and joint initiatives in this field”, said Mr. Ocampo.  “The aim of the Centre is to multiply the effects of the existing activities, enhance their visibility, expand the space for knowledge development and create the conditions to support legislatures that intend to use new technologies as instruments for democracy and good governance.”

The initiative is currently funded by the Governments of Italy and the Netherlands and supported by the Chamber of Deputies of Italy and the European Parliament, among others.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Franco Marini, President of the Senate of Italy; Ahmed Fathy Sorour, President of the People’s Assembly of Egypt; Mario Baccini, Vice President of the Italian Senate; Geoff Doidge, House Chairperson of the South African Parliament; Umberto Ranieri, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; and Patrizia Sentinelli, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy.

Mr. Ocampo announced that the Speakers and Presidents from the People’s Assembly of Egypt, the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, the House of Representatives of the Philippines, the National Assembly of South Africa, the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament had accepted his invitation to sit as members of the high-level Board that would guide the Global Centre’s work.  Other Speakers from the different regions of the world were expected to confirm in the next weeks and join in the first Board meeting, to be held in Rome on 2 March 2007, in conjunction with an international conference to be organized by the Global Centre and the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

The Under-Secretary-General concluded by saying that “in addition to donors and parliaments, in a spirit of a true global partnership, the Centre seeks to engage in its work other stakeholders from the different segments of society, such as associations, international and national institutions, businesses, academia and civil society organizations”.

For further information, please contact Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, e-mail:  info@ictparliament.org, tel.:  39 06 6813 6320, fax:  39 06 6821 0256, www.ictparliament.org.

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For information media • not an official record