[eccr] World Telecommunication Day, 17 May 2004

>UNITED NATIONS
>Press Release
>
>SECRETARY-GENERAL, MARKING WORLD
>TELECOMMUNICATION DAY, SAYS AFFORDABLE
>TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE EFFECTIVE ENGINES OF SOCIAL,
>MATERIAL CHANGE
>
>The following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message on
>World Telecommunication Day, 17 May 2004:
>
>It was 160 years ago next week that Samuel Morse used a simple series of
>dots and dashes to send the first message by telegraph -- ushering in the
>dawn of the telecommunications age. Within a decade, telegraphy had become
>a routine public service.
>
>Today, many people could not imagine daily life without the use of
>increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies
>(ICTs), from television and radio to the mobile telephone and the
>Internet.  Yet for millions of people in the world's poorest countries,
>there remains a "digital divide" excluding them from the benefits of ICTs.
>
>The theme of this year's observance of World Telecommunication Day --
>ICTs:  Leading the way to sustainable development -- reminds us that ICTs
>serve as crucial tools for achieving economic progress. Affordable
>technologies, in the hands of local communities, can be effective engines
>of change, both social and material. Access to information and
>technological know-how is essential if the world is to defeat hunger,
>protect the environment and achieve the other Millennium Development Goals
>agreed by Heads of State and Government at the United Nations Millennium
>Summit in 2000. But to harness this potential, we need to forge global
>partnerships for development between governments, the private sector,
>civil society and the United Nations system.
>
>Last December, at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information
>Society in Geneva, leaders set out a shared vision of how the world can
>eliminate the digital divide in content and physical infrastructure. This
>was the first global gathering of its kind, and I was very encouraged by
>the innovative initiatives that were put forward and by the strong
>commitment that was voiced towards overcoming the disadvantages faced by
>so many of the world's people. I urge MemberStates and all other
>stakeholders to sustain that commitment as we prepare for the Tunis phase
>of the Summit next year.
>
>On World Telecommunication Day, let us resolve to do all we can to lead
>the way to a truly open, inclusive and prosperous telecommunications age.
>
>* *** *

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Carpentier Nico (Phd)
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European Consortium for Communication Research
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ kubrussel.ac.be)
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