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Investment
crucial to building the information society
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| WSIS wants them
all online |
Geneva,
19 September 2003
- Business is calling for more emphasis on competition
and investment as preparations for the United Nations World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) enter their final phase.
Proposed changes to
a draft action plan tabled here by business representatives underline
their readiness to invest in building the information society provided
that governments introduce policies, laws and regulations that favour
competition, the creation of new businesses and innovation.
Business is represented
at the preparatory meetings for the World Summit
on the Information Society (WSIS) by a group of company executives and
business organizations headed by the International Chamber of Commerce.
The group is called the Coordinating Committee of Business
Interlocutors.
Ayesha Hassan, ICC's
representative at the preparatory meeting here,
said: "There needs to be a clear commitment by governments to create
an
environment that is conducive to investment, both foreign direct and
domestic. This is lacking in preparatory texts we have seen so far.
"Without the
necessary policies, and if the right legal and regulatory frameworks are
not in place, there will be limited investment, entrepreneurship will
be inhibited and it will become that much harder to build an information
society for all," Ms Hassan warned.
WSIS is taking place
in two parts, the first in Geneva in December and
the second in Tunis in November next year.
The action plan now
being debated is filled with high hopes and specific
targets, so that the benefits of information and communications
technologies become available to people everywhere.
Business acknowledges
that fulfilling those targets would mark a
great leap forward for world economic integration. Ms Hassan observed:
"you don't have to be a futurologist to realize that much more besides
will be required to make it all happen. These admirable goals must be
balanced against realistic measures for achievement and cannot be realized
without private sector investment."
"There will have
to be investment on a massive sc
ale. Infrastructures
will be needed where none exist today. Primary education will have to
reach the most remote and deprived regions. It is worth remembering as
we move into WSIS that to use a computer, you first have to know how to
read."
Click
here to see the draft action plan, annotated with proposed
amendments by the Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors (CCBI)
Click
here to see the proposed amendments to the draft Declaration submitted
by the Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors.
Click
for background on the World Summit on the Information Society
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