ICC e-business chief joins UN bid to bridge digital divide
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| UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: The task force was established at his initiative |
United Nations, New York, 20 November 2001 - The UN Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force was launched today with ICC's e-business chief, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh representing the private sector in the Middle East.
The ICT task force has been set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help bridge the divide that denies billions of people in the developing countries access to the world information society and its benefits.
Members of the task force are drawn from the public sector and business, from civil society groups and the scientific community and from representatives of the developing world and technologically advanced countries.
Mr Abu-Ghazaleh, a leading Arab entrepreneur, became chairman of ICC's Commission on E-business, Information Technology and Telecommunications at the beginning of the year. He then pledged to use ICC's worldwide resources to extend the benefits of the digital age to the developing countries "to ensure that the vast potential of the internet to generate prosperity in all corners of the globe is realised".
One of the Arab world's leading management consultants and intellectual property experts, Mr Abu-Ghazaleh is a member of various international internet organizations, including ICANN (a technical coordination body for the internet). He founded the Arab Internet Domain Name Consortium (AINC).
He said: "As a professional in the Arab world, I know what kinds of issues need to be addressed to bridge the digital divide. It requires widespread economic and structural reforms in the countries themselves; it demands infrastructure development and, perhaps most importantly, it requires education."
The task force will:
· help harness the power of information and communication technology development goals;
· provide a global forum for issues related to the digital revolution;
· assist countries to develop national ITC-for-development strategies;
· support public-private partnerships to bridge the digital divide;
· devote special attention to poverty eradication, the least developed countries and Africa.
Visit the ICT Task Force website
ICC Commission on E-business, Information Technology and Telecommunications