[huridocs-tech] 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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