Minister of International Development Anne Kristin Sydnes

Statement at ECCOSOC Substantive Session

New York, 6 July 2000

Mr. President,

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technology has revitalized international trade and development. It has become one of the driving forces behind the globalization process. Information and knowledge have emerged as strategic factors in social and economic progress. The experiences of Costa Rica, India, Mauritius, Mali and others show how developing countries can make use of ICT as a means of becoming integrated into the global economy. At the regional level, innovative co-operative efforts such as SIDS/Net show how ICT can be utilized to meet the needs of small island developing states and the wider international community.

The possibilities are immense, and far from being fully realized. We welcome the perspectives and concrete initiatives brought to our debate by Deputy Secretary General Frechette and president Wolfensohn of the World Bank yesterday. We found the keynote address by H.E. president Konare this morning particularly inspiring. But we also note the words of caution: Information and communication technology is not a magic wand. It provides us with a powerful tool to do more of the right things more effectively, but it does not relieve us from actually doing the job – from making the right political choices. Connectivity and applications are not universally and equally spread. The "digital divide" between developing and industrialized countries reflects the huge inequality of opportunity and power in the global economy.

In this context I took heart from the address yesterday by Treasury Secretary Summers and the clear commitment he expressed to bridge the poverty gap. Such commitment by the United States and G7 is clearly necessary to reach the international development goals. In this respect we place great hope in the outcome of the Okinawa summit. As Secretary Summers pointed out, it is time we begin to reinvest the so-called peace dividend in development and poverty reduction.

At least 80 per cent of the world’s population lack access to the most basic forms of telecommunication. Africa has 20 per cent of the world’s population, but only 2 per cent of its telephone lines. Africa’s access to the Internet remains marginal. Furthermore, there is need for more local content to increase the relevance and value of available information to African users and users in other developing countries.

The dominance of ideas and values originating in developed countries and reflecting Western culture may come in conflict with the values of local communities in developing countries. Cyberspace is not a value neutral area. We all worry about things like racist propaganda and our children's access to pornography. Save the Children, Norway, has developed a set of "netsmart rules" to help children to navigate in the info-jungle. The Internet must never become an ethics free zone. We must bring our values also to cyberspace. It must not become a place where the rule of law does not apply.

Mr. President,

I strongly endorse the Secretary-General’s recommendation to support the creation of knowledge locally and the need to address concerns about cultural intrusion, language barriers and the social impact of the new economy. The Secretary-General’s announcement of a new Health InterNetwork is also welcome as a practical example of how the new technology can be put to work to meet basic human needs. Combating the AIDS pandemic would be one obvious priority. We must lose no time in bringing HIV/AIDS education to cyberspace. Surely, the Internet can serve no better purpose than saving the lives of its users.

In recent years, the Norwegian Government has been placing greater emphasis on information and communication technology as an integral part of our development policy. An information and communication technology strategy is currently being developed. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about two different programs we have assisted in this field.

The first of these is the Grameen Phone project, also referred to by the Deputy Secretary-General yesterday . In this project, the Grameen Bank, in collaboration with a Norwegian telecommunications company, is developing a cellular phone system in rural Bangladesh. In a village phones pilot project, 950 women are reselling phone services within their villages. A research program linked to the project has yielded some interesting findings:

• The village phone operator being a woman markedly improves other women’s access to telecommunication services.
• The village phone enables poor households to gain access to market information, allowing them to increase their earnings and profits.
• Cumbersome regulatory practices lead to high cost technological solutions and excessively high rates – at the expense of the poor.

Since 1994, the Government of South Africa and the Universities of the Western Cape and Cape Town have been working to develop a Health Information System Program. The University of Oslo and NORAD have been partners in the process. Mozambique joined the program in 1998. The program aims to use information technology to empower marginalized communities and to develop systems and practices to support primary health care and decentralized health management. The program has been successfully implemented in all districts in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces and is about to be implemented countrywide. Work has also started in three pilot districts in Mozambique.

Mr. President,

There are several strategic lessons to be learnt from these and similar projects.

• The overriding importance of a national legal and regulatory framework that is conducive to information and communication technology development. The international community must do its utmost to promote the dissemination of information and best practices that can help countries to develop appropriate institutional arrangements and make sound investments.

• The need to invest in human resource development and to build national competence and institutional capacity in partnerships between government, universities, research institutes and the private sector.

• Programs that stimulate South-South co-operation are a strategic necessity for the creation of local knowledge and for a use of information and communication technology that can improve peoples lives.

Mr. President,

I would like to call for increased commitment in an area where – to my mind - the Ministerial Declaration is not sufficiently clear. Neither information nor technology is gender neutral. The village phones entrepreneurs of Bangladesh bear witness to the benefits of including women in the opportunities created by information and communication technology. It is for us to follow this up with appropriate policy and action.

Information technology has great potential for improving the quality of development and empowering the poor. But that potential can only be realized if there is sufficient quantity of development effort to improve on. For the developed countries that means, above all, that we must reverse the past decade’s inexcusable decline in official resource flows. My country and my government remain ready to do more than our share. To fulfil the pledges we have made. Stiffer competition would be welcome.

Information technology, like any technology, is a means to an end. To what end will be determined by the political choices we make, or fail to make. If we seize the opportunities, ICT can become an information highway from poverty to prosperity.

The choice is ours.

Now.

Thank you, Mr. President.