[WSIS CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund

[Andy Carvin]

Hi Bill,

Is this news report publicly available, online or otherwise?

thanks,
ac 
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
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"William Drake" <wdrake at ictsd.ch>
Sent by: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org
04/02/04 08:06 AM
Please respond to plenary
 
        To:     "Plenary" <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
        cc: 
        Subject:        [WSIS CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund


Hi,
 
I just read a news report saying that the US State Department's David 
Gross and Phillip Bond, the Commerce undersecretary for technology, 
traveled two weeks ago to Senegal to promote the U.S. view that no new 
financing mechanisms are needed.  Senegal of course led the effort at WSIS 
to establish a new fund, but was also the first state selected for a Bush 
administration initiative to get the private sector to invest in 
developing countries' tech industries.  The report said that Gross and 
Bond met with the Senegalese president and others, and later told a State 
Department advisory group that he is "cautiously optimistic" that Senegal 
will accept the U.S. view that no new multilateral fund is needed.  So I 
guess we'll see if their money was well spent....
 
Cheers,
 
Bill
 
******************************************
William J. Drake
Geneva, Switzerland
wdrake at ictsd.ch 
http://www.citi.columbia.edu/affiliates/wdrake.htm 
Director, Project on the Information Revolution 
  and Global Governance
Senior Associate, International Centre for Trade
and Sustainable Development www.ictsd.org 
******************************************