[eccr] EU works to decrease digital divide

Title: EU works to decrease digital divide

EU works to decrease digital divide

01/05/2002     Editor: Tamsin McMahon


A ministerial meeting between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean
urged the public and private sectors to cooperate to spread new
technologies.

Technology should be seen as ³a tool, not a reward of development,² said the EU¹s Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen. 

The conference, in Seville, Spain, urged cooperation to foster information and communication technologies (ICT), including the emergence of new information resources, the acceleration of trade and improved public sector transparency. 

³Access to ICTs is crucial in keeping citizens informed on laws and rights and is thereby a step along the road to ensuring good governance and human rights,² Liikanen said. 

At the conference, the European Commission launched @LIS (Alliance for the information society), which it said should help create open dialogue on e-strategies and support policy development. 

Tamsin McMahon is assistant editor of Europemedia.net. She was most recently an education reporter and editor for the Peterborough Examiner. She has worked at daily papers in Toronto, Hamilton and Edmonton, as well as for The Canadian Press. Tamsin holds a journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnic University.

Source: http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=10341