Closing Speech - Gallagher Estate

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

If you are the one who has the honour to be the tail light of a closing ceremony, it makes you kind of speechless and sad because everything has already been said, described and analysed; or nearly everything.

But let me say that it was a big pleasure for me to be here with you in Johannesburg and to get acquainted with the open and highly motivated continent and its people, especially the people of South Africa. For the International Telecommunication Union it was the fifth regional event for Africa since 1986, an event, hosted by South Africa’s Department of Communications, which had and has one big goal: bridging the digital divide.

The various discussions and presentations at the ITU Telecom Africa 2001 FORUM showed that all the major stakeholders like policy makers, representatives from the private sector, human resource professionals and last but not the least, the youth, represented for the first time in their own forum, define the digital divide as a gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas. Speaking in the context of Africa, the participants agreed that there are digital divides within countries, so to say between urban and rural areas, and between countries. The basic access to knowledge and information, in other words the Information and Communication Technology is therefore becoming a prerequisite for economic, social and civic development at all levels. The ICT debate is a debate about new opportunities in all sectors of life: Government and Democracy, Business and Trade, Culture and Human Values, Education, Health Care and Civil Rights.

At this point I would like to add that it was very encouraging for me to see and listen to all the open and constructive dialogues between the different linguistic and cultural groups, especially at the Youth Forum. It gives me hope that the defined gap will be narrowed and the developing countries will not be left behind. To sum it up it can be said that the definition of the digital divide is quite undisputed, but how to tackle it doesn’t seem to be so easy.

To answer the question, how to bridge the digital divide, is so rich and complex, we have to focus on three very essential factors:

·                    The Public Sector

·                    The Private Sector and

·                    The Human Factor

 The main task of the public sector is to develop the right regulatory and legal environment  so that every country develops the basic conditions to become more competitive and can take part in the information society. To ensure stability, investment economical and social development and prosperity the policy framework should put its emphasis on the economic growth and keep pace with the global infrastructure. It is also necessary to assure investors a secure and stable rule-based environment and  tostrengthen regulatory capacity to implement the desired reforms in order to obtain maximum economic benefits.

Speaking of the private sector we have to speak about the balance between the public and private sector. As I mentioned before, investments, namely international investments, depend on a stable, liberal and legal environment that allows the international community to invest. Here the decisive factor is the political will to put in place a stable regulatory framework. A regulator with enough resources and independence in order to gain credibility to motivate international investments is also fundamental. It is encouraging that more than half of the African nations now have an independent regulator  – therefore we must continue working with the other half. To reach this target, the right balance between incentives and directives is the key element in the development of a competitive and modern telecommunication sector. In other words, the success of the ICT debate and it’s realisation is based on the public-private sector partnership. Therefore the relationship between public and private sector initiatives is ultimately the basis for the strategies to ensuring access and attracting the much-needed direct investments.

The third aspect concerns the human factor, which is, in my point of view, the most important one. The Youth Forum and the Telecom Development Symposium underlined that while talking about accessibility and universality, one should not forget that a successful access strategy depends largely on the human factor. The linguistic multiplicity in Africa, together with the wide gap in terms of literacy, education and skills require special attention from the public and private sectors. Education, health and further social programmes have to be intensified and supported in order to enable African users to get added value for themselves, their families and communities, thereby enhancing their own lives. Education and health care should be given priority. The opportunities which come along with a good education are obvious: better chances for the youth, increasing employment and the chance to develop a truly African software industry.

As you already know, at the ITU are taking the lead role in preparing for the World Summit on the Information Society. The aim of this World Summit is to develop a common vision and understanding of the Information Society by heads of state, together with representatives from both industry and civil society – and to draw up a strategic plan of action for concerted development towards realising this vision. The Summit will provide a unique opportunity to bring together the world community and to develop a better understanding of this revolution and it’s impact.

The first phase of the World Summit will take place in Geneva, hosted by the Government of Switzerland, in December 2003. It will address the broad range of themes concerning the Information Society and adopt a Declaration of Principles and an Action Plan addressing the whole range of issues related to the Information Society. The second phase of the World Summit will take place in Tunis, hosted by the Government of Tunisia, in 2005. Development themes will be a key focus in this meeting that  will assess progress that has been made and adopt any further Action Plan to be taken.

I therefore encourage you to help us in our goal to make this World Summit a truly useful tool for change and to help bring all of the world’s people within reach of modern communications.

I thank all those who have made possible the organization and the running of the Forum at ITU Telecom Africa 2001. I also want to thank the Youth Forum fellows who have invigorated our conference and inspired us all with their ideas, energy, dedication to action and commitment to their countries and the African Continent. When we decided to launch a Youth Forum at this Africa Telecom, we had high hopes for the young women and men who had competed for and won scholarships. We had hoped that we, the ITU community, would be challenged and uplifted and moved forward into the future. This group of youth have exceeded all of our expectations. We can conclude because of them Africa has a very bright future.

Et maintenant, Mesdames et Messieurs, comme l’a fait la Ministre des communications à l’occasion de la cérémonie d’ouverture, c’est dans la langue de Molière que je vous souhaite à tous et à toutes un excellent voyage de retour, auprès de tous ceux qui vous sont chers. Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention.

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