Bridging The Digital Divide (speech)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Today, on behalf of my country, I would like to bring to your kind attention the issue of the Digital Divide and the need to bridge this divide which separates the “info-rich” from the “info-poor”. Majority of these “info-rich” people comes from developed countries whereas the majority of the “info-poor” from the developing and under developed countries. In today’s economy, over 60% of the jobs require technological expertise especially in the Infocomm Technology or ICT. However, many people, especially the women, the aged, the poor and the population living in the rural and indigenous communities of the world are being sidestepped in this Information Technology Revolution. As a result, they are unable to catch up with the developments taking place in the rest of the world. In the modern world, not only is Information Technology knowledge and skills are becoming increasing indispensible for individuals in every aspects of our lives, whether at home or at work, but also for nations and their economies if they wish to progress and prosper. This is evident in the case of Costa Rica. In 1990s, the government decided to turn to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry after its economy was severely hit. When Intel opened its 2nd largest microprocessor chip assembly plant in this Central American nation, and as a result, by 2000, ICT-related goods and services represented a whopping 37% of Costa Rica’s exports. Such examples support the stand that ICT does have exceeding advantages to not only the country but her people as well. However, the lack of concrete commitments from wealthy and “info rich” countries indicate that the implementation of a development policy in the information and communication sector is still far from being a priority on the international political agenda. Although the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) did acknowledge the need for public investment and policies to put information and communication at service of citizens, it was not followed up by concrete actions. Such feeble attempt to bridge the digital divide will not be successful and this further delays deserving people from their rights to internet access, better education prospects and good job opportunities. The availability of ICT can make a tremendous difference in people’s lives, especially the underprivileged. Availability of ICT has the potential to give millions of people greater opportunities to earn a living. Projects such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is gaining popularity in developing and developed countries alike and this cheap way of

BDD may actually be a long term solution and extend advantages of IT revolution to millions of children in developing world. Let me end on a note of guarded optimism. I believe that the time for BDD has come. It is no longer an idea, not just a concept. We should grow it into a global movement which encompasses all and leaves none behind. But we can achieve this goal only when concrete actions are carried out. Hence, there is an urgent need for us, all member nations of the UN, to formulate a plan to ensure that this gap between the “info-rich” and “info-poor” is bridged. Therefore, I urge you all to support our resolution as well as the various initiatives and programmes like the Cheap Laptop projects. I urge the “info rich” countries to share and invest in computer literacy programmes in the “info poor” countries to make the benefits of ICT easily available to people who truly need them. Thank you.