By Remmy Nweke

ACCRA- Better information and communications technologies (ICTs) would have saved the lives of many people who perished in the recent Indian ocean tsunami wave disaster said Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union. He used this example to illustrate the very real value ICTs can have in the lives of ordinary people.
Addressing the plenary session of the African regional preparatory conference, Utsumi described the meeting in Accra as “crucial to Africa and its member states in their participation in the second WSIS.”
Utsumi, who is also the chairman, High-Level Organising Committee (HLOC) of WSIS, used the opportunity to praise the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for the way it has organised conference.
He stressed the urgency of translating the resolutions taken at the first phase of the WSIS meeting in Geneva into reality. He also challenged government departments and non-governmental agencies to work together in placing Africa where it belongs in the information society.
Earlier in a goodwill message to the conference, president of the Preparatory Committee for WSIS 2005, Janis Karklins from Latvia, said that the summit would enable people to make better use of ICTs for development.
Stressing the importance of the Accra conference, Karklins said it would help implement the Geneva recommendations and streamline the Plan of Action. He said that it would also ensure a successful second phase of the WSIS in Tunis later in the year.
Karklins noted that Africa has a lot to gain from bridging the digital divide, and therefore wished delegates a successful meeting.