Monday, May 03, 2004
International funding agenda at Africa telecoms meeting
CAIRO: Monday, 3rd May. 2004
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
World support for Africa getting its people connected to the Information Society is a key theme at the “Advantage Africa” telecoms forum taking place in Cairo this week.
It is a subject that has a range of players competing with each other for the most progressive profile – and many of them are prominent at the Egyptian event. But some of the most relevant, such as the USA, are conspicuously absent.
The high level event is convened by UN agency, the International Telecoms Union (ITU). The ITU is on a roll from its high-profile World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva last December.
ITU chief Yoshio Utsumi is clear that his group will want credit for the Cairo occasion. Earlier this year, he warned his organisation that other international groups are “aggressively positioning themselves” to compete with ITU for leadership in promoting the spread of Information Society technology around the world.
While not spelling out who he meant, it is likely that he has in mind the US-supported ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as well as rival UN agencies like UNESCO and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Utsumi said that “if ITU is to remain the key international player in bridging the digital divide, as we must, it is crucial that we assume a leadership role in convincing other international organizations to work with us in implementing the WSIS Digital Solidarity Agenda.”
The ITU chief’s reference is to the decision at the Geneva summit to study models for financing digital development, and report back to the second phase of WSIS in Tunis at the end of 2005.
Accordingly, the Cairo meeting – the first big ITU show since Geneva – is part the international politics of “digital solidarity”. Countries like Egypt and Nigeria, and companies like Alcatel, are using the theme to beat their own drums.
The concluding Forum session on Thursday explicitly covers “Digital Solidarity”. It is billed as bringing together the hosts of the Geneva WSIS – i.e. the Swiss government, along with Senegal which first proposed a “Digital Solidarity Fund”, and Tunisia who will host the final summit.
According to the programme, the session “will provide the perfect opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the first phase of WSIS and to plan for a successful implementation of the second phase.”
The session also includes speeches by Nigerian ministers and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
But noticeably absent are representatives of richer countries whose support would be needed if the ITU is to be able to deliver meaningful digital solidarity and secure its status as harbinger of a globally inclusive information society.
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
CAIRO: Monday, 3rd May. 2004
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
World support for Africa getting its people connected to the Information Society is a key theme at the “Advantage Africa” telecoms forum taking place in Cairo this week.
It is a subject that has a range of players competing with each other for the most progressive profile – and many of them are prominent at the Egyptian event. But some of the most relevant, such as the USA, are conspicuously absent.
The high level event is convened by UN agency, the International Telecoms Union (ITU). The ITU is on a roll from its high-profile World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva last December.
ITU chief Yoshio Utsumi is clear that his group will want credit for the Cairo occasion. Earlier this year, he warned his organisation that other international groups are “aggressively positioning themselves” to compete with ITU for leadership in promoting the spread of Information Society technology around the world.
While not spelling out who he meant, it is likely that he has in mind the US-supported ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as well as rival UN agencies like UNESCO and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Utsumi said that “if ITU is to remain the key international player in bridging the digital divide, as we must, it is crucial that we assume a leadership role in convincing other international organizations to work with us in implementing the WSIS Digital Solidarity Agenda.”
The ITU chief’s reference is to the decision at the Geneva summit to study models for financing digital development, and report back to the second phase of WSIS in Tunis at the end of 2005.
Accordingly, the Cairo meeting – the first big ITU show since Geneva – is part the international politics of “digital solidarity”. Countries like Egypt and Nigeria, and companies like Alcatel, are using the theme to beat their own drums.
The concluding Forum session on Thursday explicitly covers “Digital Solidarity”. It is billed as bringing together the hosts of the Geneva WSIS – i.e. the Swiss government, along with Senegal which first proposed a “Digital Solidarity Fund”, and Tunisia who will host the final summit.
According to the programme, the session “will provide the perfect opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the first phase of WSIS and to plan for a successful implementation of the second phase.”
The session also includes speeches by Nigerian ministers and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
But noticeably absent are representatives of richer countries whose support would be needed if the ITU is to be able to deliver meaningful digital solidarity and secure its status as harbinger of a globally inclusive information society.
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
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