STATEMENT

BY

H.E. Dr PAVEL GANTAR

MINISTER FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

 

AT THE WORLD SUMMIT ON

THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

 

11 December 2003

GENEVA

Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Mr. President,
Distinguished Mr. Secretary General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,

These are exciting, challenging and even impulsive times for the whole Information and Communication Technology arena, therefore may I start by thanking all involved who with exceptional dedications enabled this first phase of World Summit on the Information Society.

I would like in particular to retreat my thanks to the host country, to Federal Councillor Mr Moritz Leuenberger for facilitating the quest for consensus and commitment, being expressed in two texts: the Declaration of Principles and the Action Plan.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is becoming more and more obvious to the public and the world of politics that Information and communication technologies are of vital meaning for creating conditions for the development of knowledge based society where nobody is excluded from the access to information and knowledge and consecutively from general human progress and well-being.

This is one of the main reasons that in year 2001 Slovene government set information society as a priority task within the context of sustainable development.

Slovene government placed this topic not just as a top-level technological issue but undoubtedly also as the priority on the general social agenda.

Our goal is to participate in global information and knowledge society, nevertheless the empowerment of micro entities trough the use of ICT has becoming the crucial one. That implies generation and improvement of skills and simultaneously enables access to knowledge. Consequently with such confidence in using ICT citizens raise their self-esteem to face the challenges of post-modern life.

An imperative at the extra-governmental level is an excellent cooperation with business sector, as well as partnership and dialogue with non-governmental organizations based specifically on the law dealing with everyone's right to access the public sector information.

Information society systematically appears as a horizontal priority within different governmental development programmes. Benefits of that have already, in short tree years, been demonstrated in a wide range of projects that can be considered as a good practice. Results are evident at increasing Internet availability - in households, businesses and at public places. Users approach different e-services within e­government, e-learning, e-health, and nevertheless - culture and entertainment.

By bridging digital divide Slovene government has put all its efforts to enable a participatory political culture. All citizens, regardless of their capabilities being able to use technologies or not, will have equal opportunities to take part in decision­making processes what will even more strengthen the fundamental principles of democratic society.

Last, but not least, by taking such gradual, but convincing steps, Slovenia becomes more and more reliable partner within the global dialogue on the "Common Vision of the Information Society« (Declaration of Principles), which should be inclusive, citizen-oriented, sympathetic and above all sustainable.

In conclusion, Ladies and Gentleman,

I would like to express my belief that in the sphere of dialogue and openness demonstrated during this process the international community once again proved its dedication to comprehensively address complex and multifaceted challenges of contemporary society.

Thank you all.