UN Contacts G-8 Summit on Information Technology GapThe United Nations on Friday was forwarding a ministerial declaration on the critical importance of closing the digital divide to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori as the Group of G-8 opened its summit in Okinawa, Japan.Makarim Wibsono, President of the UN Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC) asked the Prime Minister of the Summit host country to communicate to the other member countries the contents of a declaration approved on July 7 at a ministerial-level meeting of ECOSOC. The Declaration voices consensus among developing and developed countries, as well as countries with economies in transition, that information and communication technology(ICT) is central to the new knowledge-based world economy, and plays a critical role in accelerating growth, promoting sustainable development and eradicating poverty. The Declaration also warns that the information technology revolution can very likely lead to further widening disparities between and within countries, and that the majority of the world population still lives in poverty by the ICT revolution. The Declaration, the end result of months of intergovernmental discussions and private-public sector interchanges, also outlines useful step to be taken by countries, companies and multilateral agencies, and sets in motions step for creating a global ICT task force linked to the United Nations system. |
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