UN and Korean Government sign accord paving way for new technology centre

Aiming to help close the “digital divide,” the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Seoul Government today sealed a pact to open a technology centre in the Republic of Korea.

The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development is expected to open its doors later this year in Incheon City, a technology hub located some 50 kilometres west of Seoul.

The new technology centre will providing training programmes in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to benefit countries of the region, ESCAP said, emphasizing the importance of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of time-bound international antipoverty targets. Goal Eight focuses on developing a global partnership for development and making the benefits of new technologies, especially ICT, widely available.

The Korean Government will provide financial and in-kind contributions totalling $10 million, including premises, for the Centre’s first five years of operation.