U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told leaders from business, finance, government and the media that their participation in a Global Alliance to step up access to digital technology gives an important direction to "our work towards an open and prosperous information society" and "the use of ICT as a tool for advancing development."
The idea of the initiative, he said, is to develop "a decentralized 'network of networks' on a global scale, so that the Alliance can drawn in the relevant stakeholders, particularly as new issues emerge." It will operate, he added, in four priority areas: health, education, poverty reduction through new enterprises, and citizen participation in government.
Annan thanked Dr. Craig Barrett, chairman of the board at Intel, for taking on the position of chairman of the
U.N. Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
Wednesday's meeting at U.N. Headquarters in New York was attended by Alliance Steering Committee members Jamaludin Jarjis, Malaysia's minister of science, technology and innovation; Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank; Walter Fust, director-general, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Titi Akinsanmi, programme manager, Global Teenager Project, South Africa; John Bernander, director general, Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, and vice-president, European Broadcasting Union; Renate Bloem, president, the Committee on NGOs, Switzerland; and Guy Sebban, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce; as well as Barrett. U.N. Under-Secretary-General Jos
