UN announces new Global Alliance on information technology for development

The United Nations today announced the launch of a new Global Alliance for Information Technology (ICT) and Development which will bring together a wide variety of interested participants as part of broader international efforts to harness technological advances for use in the fight against poverty.

The United Nations today announced the launch of a new Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development which will bring together a wide variety of interested participants as part of broader international efforts to harness technological advances for use in the fight against poverty.

The Alliance, which will open its first meeting on 19 June in Kuala Lumpur, will organize thematic global forums on core issues related to the role of ICT in economic development and the eradication of poverty, focusing on heath, education, gender issues and youth as well as disabled and disadvantaged segments of society.

The Global Alliance will be open to many interested participants, including governments, business, civil society, international organizations, industry groups, professional associations, the media and academia. It aims to help integrate ICT into national policies in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of time-bound antipoverty targets set at a 2000 UN summit.