By Omar Karmi
Amman — Under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah, the “Creative
Leadership for a new Millennium” conference opened yesterday with a sharp focus on the coming millennium, and what role the Arab World, and the developing world in general, will have in what one speaker termed the “InfoSphere”.
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), painted a picture of a future floating in an “endless sea of information.”
“A single digital device will cater for all our information and communication needs — the Internet, TV, video, telephone. Our identity will be stored on a card which can be used worldwide. Expect zero-cost computing. Commerce, healthcare, everything will go on-line. It will be digital everything.”
This “brave new world” he said, whether appealing or not, is a reality, the only question mark is whether it will be exclusive or inclusive.
“We need,” he said, in a message directed at Bill Gates, who will address the conference today via a live satellite link-up, “a Marshall Plan for the developing world. Let's call it the Gates Plan.”
“The Marshall Plan, implemented to develop the obliterated countries of Europe in the wake of World War II, served everyone in the long run”, he said, “especially the economies of the donor countries, notably America, and something similar is needed on the threshold of the millennium with respect to the technological revolution, otherwise we stand in danger of ‘inevitable struggle’ between the developed and developing worlds”, Abu-Ghazaleh warned.
In his opening statement on behalf of King Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information Ayman Majali focused on the role of teamwork between governments and the private sector to catapult the region into the next millennium. “Creative leadership”, he said, “is leadership that comes through teamwork, not a single leader.”
He also emphasized the role of free expression, adding that the Free Media Zone, being proposed by the government, is now going through the legislature, where details will be finalized.
“We aim to bring back the Arab media that has migrated out of the Arab World, and promote the internal media...Everyone in the Arab World must feel free to express their opinions.”
Speaking on behalf of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Hussein Al Jamal stressed the importance of transparency as inherent in creativity.
“Institutional discipline [in] governments or businesses...entails sensitivity to change. This means administrative and financial decisions must be transparent.”
The conference, which is organized by Lead in 2000, will conclude today with a live satellite link-up where, in addition to Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Richard Branson, and other business tycoons and economists will share their ideas for creative leadership and visions of the future.