Breaking ICT ground
Arab preparations for a key global ICT meeting are in full swing. Dina Ezzat reports
Six months ahead of the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Arab state representatives met to coordinate IT action at the Arab League Cairo headquarters late last week. The Pan-Arab Regional Conference on WSIS was attended by Arab government officials, private sector and civil society representatives and international and regional organisations concerned with issues of development and IT, such as UNESCO, UNDP and the Economic and Social Committee for West Asia (ESCWA).
Participants at the three-day conference debated means of pursuing IT and ICT expansion in Arab countries and agreed that a key objective for December's WSIS is to develop a coherent policy vision that addresses the needs and interests of developing and developed countries equally.
"The problem is that while there is much talk about the need to reach out to developing countries and to provide IT and ICT as tools for development, not much is being done in this respect," said one Egyptian participant. "There is always someone talking about the need to transfer IT to developing countries and to work on bridging the digital gap, but, in reality, we know that countries such as the US are not forthcoming in this respect."
A number of conference participants pointed out that ICT, on its own, will not automatically lead to development, but might, in fact, widen the poverty gap between poor and rich countries. Expanding the communication infrastructure in developing countries must be coupled with narrowing the digital divide if ICT expansion was to be achieved. A partnership between the developed and the developing world must emerge to fulfil that aim, participants agreed.
"Partnerships are simply essential in the world of IT and ICT," one ESCWA representative said. "And, just as it is vital to build partnerships between governments, private sectors and civil society, international coordination is an essential mechanism towards building an information society."
A document adopted by the meeting stressed the need to expand the required infrastructure for communication and develop human resources capable of promoting IT and ICT. An Arab League source said the aim is to provide 60 per cent of Arab citizens with access to modern communication services by the year 2008. In order to reach that goal, developing qualified human resources is essential, he said.
The conference explored avenues of human resource investment, stressing the need for launching training programmes and increasing budgets for scientific research across the Arab world.
To best serve this purpose, the meeting's final document argued the need for connecting research centres across the Arab world, as well as bolstering IT cooperation among Arab governments, private sectors and civil society.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa made clear that Arab countries, for the most part, have a long way to go in the ICT field. The march towards the WSIS, combined with the knowledge revealed by an Arab development report on IT deficiencies in the Arab world, he said, should serve as an incentive for Arab societies to move on to the IT/ICT fast lane.
The meeting advocated the need to establish an Arab League-sponsored working group that would help stimulate better inter- Arab cooperation. "Obviously, when it comes to IT and ICT, we do need to cooperate with developing countries, but we also need to cooperate amongst ourselves, share experiences and exchange resources," an Arab League source said.
The need for Arab countries to climb on the IT and ICT bandwagon was stressed by resolutions adopted by Arab summits held in Amman and Beirut in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Over the past three years, Arab communication ministers have been undertaking measures and designing plans to implement this objective as part of an overall Arab development plan.
In Geneva next December, Arab delegations will attempt to secure international support for their moves. The conference last week was one of several Arab preparatory meetings for the WSIS. Over the past 18 months, Arab officials and private sector and civil society representatives met in a number of Arab capitals to talk goals and working plans. Other developing groupings in Africa and Asia have also been preparing for the Geneva meeting.
"It is important that the different cultural views come across in the summit," said Marc Furrer, state secretary for the WSIS. In his statement before the Pan- Arab Regional Conference on the WSIS, Furrer said that cultural diversity, local content and the media will be key issues at the WSIS.
"The WSIS will be breaking new ground in terms of content and architecture," he said. "Alongside the speeches of heads of states, round-table discussions, the adoption of a policy declaration and an action plan, there will be also a forum for ideas to allow for an intense debate between representatives of governments, business sectors and civil society."
The WSIS meeting in Geneva is the first of a two-part summit. Tunis will host the second meeting in 2005.
