More than ten years since world leaders gathered to establish goals and time-bound targets to free humanity from extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease, gender inequality and environmental degradation, the UN Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) have been inspiring and guiding the development efforts.
As the lead organizing Agency of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ITU has been promoting for many years the role of ICTs in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The WSIS outcome documents have recognized the cross cutting nature and transformative potential of ICTs, and set the ambitious target to “connect the world” by 2015, among others. WSIS also addressed issues such as infrastructure, access to communication, capacity building, cultural diversity, cyber security and Internet Governance which are shaping the outlines of the Information Society and contribute to the development agenda. WSIS has therefore engaged the Union in a broader agenda of partnerships with Member States, business entities, international organizations and civil society in the promotion of ICTs for Development towards 2015.
Today, convinced that emerging Broadband Technologies will help accelerating progress towards the MDGs, ITU and its partners are advocating the role of Broadband as a key foundation for any development policy and as major enabling tool of any national development plan.
