AMMAN - Under the sponsorship of HM King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein, the United Nations Information and Communications Technologies Taskforce (UN ICT TF) will hold tomorrow,Sunday, its preliminary meeting organized by the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. International (TAGI) in cooperation with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and the Information Technology Association - Jordan (int@j) at the Sheraton Hotel, Amman.
The Taskforce was officially formed on November 20, 2001 at the UN headquarters under the auspices of UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, with the aim of assisting in the achievement of larger scale international participation and finding creative ways to spread the benefits of the digital revolution.
The Amman meeting comes as an execution of the Taskforce's decision to establish regional headquarters in various regions of the world, whereby Jordan has been chosen to be the regional headquarter of the Taskforce in the Arab region. This will be officially announced during the meeting.
Speeches by Dr. Salah El-Din Al-Bashir, Jordan's Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Jose Maria Figueras-Olsen (former President of Costa Rica), Chairman of the UN ICT TF, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Regional President of the Arab Regional Network of the UN ICT TF, and Mr. Karim Kawar, Regional Coordinator of the Arab region and President of int@j, will be delivered at the opening session.
The Taskforce was created as a result of an initiative approved by the ministerial meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council which was ratified by more than 150 heads of state attending the Millennium Summit at the UN headquarters in September 2000 which issued the Millennium Declaration.
The Taskforce will work to help bridge the digital divide and create digital opportunities under the umbrella of the UN, as it is the first body to be formed by a decision made by governments, and where member governments, the private sector and other parties all participate as equal partners to develop ICT in the service of development.