[WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: ITU Launches New Development Initiative to Bridge the Digital Divide

[Tracey Naughton]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "ITU Press Office" <pressinfo.mailb at itu.int>
Date: 16 June 2005 2:23:18 PM
To: "Ms Tracey Naughton" <tracey at traceynaughton.com>
Subject: ITU Launches New Development Initiative to Bridge the  
Digital Divide


International Telecommunication Union
For immediate release
Contact Us : Press and Public Information Service
ITU Launches New Development Initiative to Bridge the Digital Divide
Partnership will be the key to connecting communities

Geneva, 16 June 2005 — The International Telecommunication Union  
today launched a major new development drive designed to bring access  
to information and communication technologies (ICTs) to the estimated  
one billion people worldwide for whom making a simple telephone call  
remains out of reach.

Called Connect the World, the initiative is designed to encourage new  
projects and partnerships to bridge the digital divide. By showcasing  
development efforts now underway and by identifying areas where needs  
are the most pressing, Connect the World will create a critical mass  
that will generate the momentum needed to connect all communities by  
2015. At present, ITU estimates that around 800’000 villages — or  
30% of all villages worldwide — are still without any kind of  
connection.

Connect the World places strong emphasis on the importance of  
partnerships between the public and private sectors, UN agencies and  
civil society. It has 22 founding partners, including leading  
corporate players such as Alcatel, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, KDDI,  
Telefónica, Infosys and WorldSpace, whose CEOs have all embraced the  
goals of the initiative.

Partners also include governments and government agencies including  
Egypt, France, Senegal and the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity  
and Promotion (KADO), regional and international organizations  
including UNESCO, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the European  
Commission, the International Telecommunication Satellite  
Organization, RASCOM and the United Nations Fund for International  
Partnerships (UNFIP), as well as a range of organizations from civil  
society including Télécoms Sans Frontières, the M S Swaminathan  
Research Foundation and Child Helpline International.

The initiative comprises three key Building Blocks — Enabling  
Environment, Infrastructure & Readiness, and Applications & Services  
— which together constitute the primary areas that need to be  
addressed when developing concrete measures to accelerate ICT  
development. All Connect the World founding partners have current  
development projects in one or more of these areas. They will be  
encouraged to develop new partnerships and initiatives, while  
additional partners will be actively sought in areas not adequately  
covered to ensure underserved communities get what they need where  
it’s needed most.

Speaking at a press conference to launch the initiative at UN  
headquarters in Geneva, ITU Secretary-General Mr Yoshio Utsumi spoke  
of the urgent need to connect those still deprived of ready access to  
ICTs.

"It is time to stop regarding access to ICTs as a privilege available  
to the rich few within a country, and the rich few countries in the  
world," said Utsumi. "ICTs now underpin just about every aspect of  
modern life. They are basic infrastructure, as necessary to economic  
and social development as postal services, banks, medical centres and  
schools."

At present, the 942 million people living in the world’s developed  
economies enjoy five times better access to fixed and mobile phone  
services, nine times better access to Internet services, and own 13  
times more PCs than the 85% of the world’s population living in low  
and lower-middle income countries. But while figures do show a clear  
improvement over the last ten years in bridging the gap between  
information "haves" and "have-nots", they nonetheless fail to paint a  
true picture for many rural dwellers, whose communities are still  
often unserved by any form of ICT.

"It is not ICTs that will solve the problem of the digital divide, it  
is people and especially people working inpartnership. So while  
Connect the World is about harnessing the power of ICTs, it’s also  
about harnessing the power of people working together to connect the  
unconnected," said ITU’s Utsumi.

By providing an international platform to showcase the many  
innovative and successful development initiatives already underway,  
ITU hopes Connect the World will spur organizations at every level to  
get actively involved in development. "Every Connect the World  
partner is currently working to make a real difference. I applaud  
their efforts, and hope the projects they are showcasing within this  
initiative will serve to stimulate new partnerships and inspire  
others to join us and to launch their own development activities,"  
said Utsumi.

For more information on the Connect the World initiative, including  
the Connect the World Factsheet, full details of Connect the World  
partner projects, and a selection of photos of projects and leaders  
of participating organizations, click here.

About ITU

Contact Us : Press and Public Information Service	 	


-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/related