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Industry leaders to promote Smart Sustainable Development
High-level Advisory Board to guide ITU initiative
Geneva, 18 October 2013 – Industry leaders met today in an
advisory capacity to promote ITU’s Smart Sustainable Development Model (SSDM)
initiative. The meeting of the Advisory Board brings together leaders of the
telecom sector to leverage the transformational power of ICTs to push forward
innovation and change at all levels.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré noted that smart solutions are needed
to meet global challenges such as climate change. “Leading edge information and
communication technologies provide new opportunities to fast track sustainable
development,” Touré said. “Smart technological solutions can help combat climate
change while improving our capacity to respond to natural disasters and, at the
same time, provide improved access to basic needs, such as health, education,
and nutrition.”
Mr Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau,
reiterated the importance of harnessing the power of ICTs. He said, “ITU acts as
a facilitator and provides a platform for stakeholders to map strategies that
will be transformed into action with the aim of providing socio-economic
development and saving lives using modern ICTs.”
The Advisory Board is composed of eminent personalities with a range of
interests and expertise in emergency telecommunications and sustainable
development. They include policy makers, satellite operators, regulators and
service providers.
Under the chairmanship of Mr John M. Nasasira, Minister of Information and
Communications Technology of Uganda, the Advisory Board will issue a call for
action to urgently address the needs of those who are most vulnerable to natural
disasters. Members will identify the main objectives and strategies needed to
create an operational sustainable development framework that will mobilize key
resources and actors (national, local governments, civil society, business and
academia) to incorporate innovative projects that make use of new and existing
infrastructure to optimally prepare, mitigate, prevent and respond to unforeseen
disasters.
“It is with both a pleasure and challenge that I chair the Smart Sustainable
Development Advisory Board, an initiative of the International Telecommunication
Union which links ICT for development and humanitarian work. Through this
initiative we will explore ways of unmasking technology and show the human face
behind it in terms of our efforts to deliver socio-economic development through
effective disaster management,” Mr Nasasira said.
The Advisory Board will meet again next year to review progress and address
strategic issues.
The Smart Sustainable Development Model Initiative is an international,
multi-stakeholder platform that seeks to link ICT for Development (ICT4D) with
ICT for Disaster Management (ICT4DM) in order to achieve sustainable development
through the optimal use of resources while minimizing additional financial
investments. The aim is to utilize existing infrastructure and optimize it for
disaster response in emergencies.
See
Videos and
Photos.
For more information, please see
http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Initiatives/SSDM/Pages/default.aspx
or contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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