In Tunis, Annan for concrete action to technology access for poor
Regional-UN, Politics, 11/16/2005

The time has come to move beyond broad discussions of the "digital divide" -- the gap in communications technology between rich and poor -- to outlining a specific plan to give people access to the technologies they need and the education to use them effectively, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a major world meeting on the subject today.

"The hurdle here is more political than financial. The costs of connectivity, computers and mobile telephones can be brought down," he told the opening plenary according to the text of his prepared speech to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting in Tunis, Tunisia and running through 18 November.

"These assets -- these bridges to a better life -- can be made universally affordable and accessible. We must summon the will to do it," he continued, saying the technologies provided opportunities for development and poverty reduction.

"Those opportunities are immense," he said, noting that in Africa and other developing regions, the rapid spread of mobile telephones and wireless telecommunication has spurred entrepreneurship, and helped small businesses take root, particularly those run and owned by women.

In addition, he said doctors in remote areas have gained access to medical information on tropical diseases and students have been able to tap into world-wide databases of books and research. Early warning of natural disasters has improved, and relief workers have been able to provide quicker, better-coordinated relief.

"The same opportunities -- and other, new ones -- can be given to many more people in the developing world," he said.

Turning to the myth that the UN wants to "take over" police or otherwise control the Internet, he reminded the session that the UN consists of its Member States and can only want what those States agree on. "And as I understand it, what we are all striving for is to protect and strengthen the Internet, and to ensure that its benefits are available to all.

Affirming that the United States deserves thanks for having developed the Internet, making it available to the world and exercising its oversight responsibilities fairly, he said he believed most participants agreed that day-to-day management of the Internet must be left to technical institutions.

"But I think you also all acknowledge the need for more international participation in discussions of Internet governance issues. The question is how to achieve this. So let those discussions continue," he said.

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