UN telecommunications agency says technology must be equitably shared
World leaders must pay more attention to the role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in addressing many of the challenges of the 21st century and in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the head of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says.
World leaders must pay more attention to the role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in addressing many of the challenges of the 21st century and in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the head of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says.
“Although ICTs are not a panacea for the world’s long-standing problems of development and international tension, they can nevertheless help address many of the needs and global challenges of the 21st century," ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi said yesterday.
“ICTs can provide a powerful tool for the benefit of all citizens and for the UN in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”
At the opening ceremony of the third and last preparatory conference (PrepCom-3) for the upcoming Tunis Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Mr. Utsumi said that in this regard world leaders must pay more attention to ICTs.
The 19 to 30 September meeting of the ITU at the UN complex in Geneva gives some 1,350 delegates from more than 130 countries and over 150 such groups as international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businesses the chance to work out an agreement before the second phase of WSIS, which begins on 16 November in Tunisia, ITU said.
Key agenda items for PrepCom-3 include financing for ICT development, implementation mechanisms for the WSIS Action Plan and the issue of Internet governance, as the Internet is transformed from an academic research network into a mainstream communications platform and a key strategic resource in today’s emerging information society, it said.
The growing importance of the Internet as a source of information and knowledge, along with the advent of a host of new ICT-related issues, such as spam, protecting online intellectual property, cybercrime, network security and secure frameworks for e-commerce, has led some countries to propose a new management structure that would be independent of any single government, the agency said.
Some key delegations already have publicly disagreed with this and “the issue remains highly contentious and is expected to be the subject of vigorous debate,” ITU said.