UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

AND DEVELOPMENT TO FOCUS ON CONCERNS OF DEVELOPING WORLD

 

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 May (Department of Economic and Social Affairs) -- The United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development should chart a multi-year work programme to spread the benefits of information and communications technology to the developing world, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang said today at the Alliance’s third annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

“The Global Alliance is at a turning point,” said Mr. Sha, whose Department hosts the Alliance.  “It has the brand –- it is a big name now.  It has the recognition, the platform and the networks.  It has launched initiatives and partnerships that are already yielding initial results.  It is now important to focus the work of the Alliance on fewer activities of strong impact.  We look forward to very concrete suggestions from you,” he told some 150 participants of the annual meeting of the Alliance’s Strategic Council.

Global Alliance Chair Craig Barrett, who is also Chairman of Intel, said that, in terms of information and communications technology, people around the world were concerned about getting access, connectivity, local content and education.  The Global Alliance should focus on software and hardware programmes, such as public-private partnerships, community centres and information and communications technology for schools, said Mr. Barrett.  It should concentrate “on the fundamentals of getting connectivity; on local content, which can create huge local economic possibilities; and on educating people on using the technology -– and there are marvellous new education programmes out there that are reaching millions of teachers.”

The Alliance, which was launched in Kuala Lumpur in June 2006, had already achieved important results, Mr. Barrett said, such as “improvements in education, health care and the ability of Governments to communicate with their citizens”.  A health-care project supported by the Alliance had won an award for best application of information and communications technology in India, he said.  The Alliance was not an implementing agency, he said.  “Our task is cross-communication –- to put together the wonderful projects we see around the world and multiply them through our networks”, which comprise Governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.

Maximus Ongkili, Malaysia’s Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, and co-chair of the meeting, said his country and the Global Alliance had a similar approach:  both were involving all interested parties, mobilizing global partnerships, stressing the importance of human capital and emphasizing knowledge-sharing.  “Let’s combine our expertise and ideas and move closer to an information-based society,” he said.

“ICT is gaining importance in addressing climate change and the food crisis,” said International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, a member of the 15-person Alliance Steering Committee.  “On these issues, ICT is part of the solution, not part of the problem,” he said, adding that information and communications technology represented only 2.5 to 3.1 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, but could “contribute immensely” to addressing climate change.

Global Alliance Executive Coordinator Sarbuland Khan said that, in the past year, the body had organized or co-organized some 15 events involving over 6,000 participants, including the first ever meeting bringing together the private sector and the United Nations on the issue of information and communications technology and climate change.  The greatest asset of the Alliance is its power to convene, to mobilize its networks and communities of expertise,” Mr. Khan said. “It has made optimum use of it.”

Also addressing today’s meeting were Ali Abassov, Azerbaijan’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology; Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Ghana’s Minister of Communications; and Bassem Roussan, Jordan’s Minister for Information and Communications Technology.

The morning meeting of the Global Alliance’s Strategy Council examined proposals for new activities.  Under the “Adopt-a-Village” initiative, Governments, private companies and civil society organizations would seek to bring connectivity to some of the world’s 800,000 villages without information and communications technology access.  A “United Nations Global Knowledge Repository for Electronic and Mobile Government” would put at the disposal of Governments successful examples of online public services.  The “Indigenous Peoples’ Appropriating the Knowledge Society” initiative would help remote indigenous communities to connect.

The afternoon meeting of the Steering Committee, chaired by Mr. Barrett, charted the Alliance’s work in the next 12 months.

In a related development, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Azerbaijan signed in Kuala Lumpur on 17 May a Letter of Intent providing for cooperation on promoting information and communications technology for development.  The Letter of Intent was signed by Azerbaijan’s Minister Abassov and Under-Secretary-General Sha.

Created by the Secretary-General in 2006, the Global Alliance seeks to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources required to bridge major gaps in information and communications technology infrastructure, services and applications across the world.  Its main areas of focus are education, health, economic development and governance.

For information, please visit http://www.un-gaid.org or contact Enrica Murmura at the Global Alliance, tel.: +1 212 963 5913, e-mail: murmura@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record