ABU DHABI – The second session of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) concluded at the UN headquarters in New York recently. The session hosted the international efforts to bridge the digital gap, and was attended by government representatives, heads of major corporations and international organizations that are members on the taskforce.
Participating on behalf of the Arab region was Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, member of the taskforce’s executive office, as he chaired the closing session in which the decisions taken by the executive office, regional conglomerates, working teams and entire taskforce team members, were adopted.
These meetings come at a crucial time, as they coincide with the final phase of activities for the G8 IT team, which is expected to integrate with the UN ICT TF.
The taskforce adopted a suggestion presented by Abu-Ghazaleh for creating a federation of regional conglomerates that includes the Arab, African, Asian and Latin American regions.
It is known that the conglomerate of the Arab countries’ region was created January 13th, and Jordan was adopted as its regional headquarters. It was followed by the three other regions, and following those will be the regions of Eastern Europe and mid-Asia. These regions which represent four-fifths of the world will form a negotiating bloc with the advanced nations, such that this fulfills the interests of both parties. The first meeting of this federation will be held in Shanghai on March 27th.
Abu-Ghazaleh delivered a speech at the UN in which he emphasized that “we –as young developing nations- look forward to completing our mission so we can work as equal partners with advanced countries.”
He explained that it is in the interest of both advanced and developing nations to bridge the divide because a market that includes the whole world is better for everyone than a market that includes only one-fifth of the world. He expressed his confidence that the world will bridge this gap, after it has failed in bridging the gap of wealth because the latter involved offering financial support.
On the previous day, Abu-Ghazaleh ran a meeting for the Working Group on Human Resources and Capacity Building (HRCB) (for information and communication technologies) of the United Nations in his capacity as Chairman of this group. This meeting decided to form three committees; the first was for education headed by the UNESCO representative, the second was for health under the leadership of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the third was to develop applications, headed by the representative of Britain.
Organizations worldwide that have similar goals expressed their desire to join their efforts with those of the HRCB working group, such that the group will be focal point for all international efforts in the field of IT and telecommunications.