INDONESIA

STATEMENT BY H.E. DR. SOFYAN A. DJALIL
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Secretary General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

Allow me, first of all, on behalf of the Indonesian delegation,to express our sincere congratulations to you on your election as Chairman of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. My delegation believes that under your able chairmanship, our deliberations will proceed smoothly to a fruitful conclusion.

We would also like to congratulate the Vice Chairmen of the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Chairmen and the Vice Chairmen of the Committees and the Working Group of the Plenary on their respective election.

We are grateful to the Government and people of Turkey for the warm welcome and kind hospitality extended to us. And we commend the Government of Turkey for hosting this timely and important Conference, which is expected to resolve very crucial and urgent issues in a way that will benefit all of us.

Mr. Chairman,
The previous speakers have given us the highlights of the work of the Union since the last Conference, and the challenges that we have to confront in the future. I am pleased to say that the Secretariat has done a good job at fulfilling its mandates. At the same time, I wish to point out that humankind has a huge stake in the acceleration and enlargement of the Union’s contribution to the development of telecommunications and ICT worldwide through its various quality programmes.

I firmly believe that the future of the Union depends on the magnitude and quality of the programmes it carries out for the benefit of its members. The more we spend on the quality and magnitude of the programmes of the Union, the greater would be the benefits derived from them.

The question before us is whether the ITU should be regarded as merely a spending and socializing group or one that brings social, economic as well as financial benefits to its members and stakeholders. I am sure you all agree with me that it should be the latter.

And I am sure you all agree with me that we should all work hard together so that the ITU will become the kind of organization it was meant to be—one that benefits the global industry to which it belongs as well as the peoples of its member states. For this to happen, the ITU should not just keep moving on the usual track. Instead it should work on a ‘business unusual’ basis, especially now that we are facing the challenges of globalization and struggling to keep abreast of rapid developments in the world of ICT.

I therefore appeal to the distinguished delegates to consider setting higher goals for the Union, such as providing more substantial assistance to the majority of nations that constitute about 80 percent of the world’s population. If we can do that, we will then be raising the living standards of the larger part of humankind simply by empowering them with access to affordable telecommunication/ICT facilities.

Mr. Chairman,

It has to be acknowledged that in the common effort to build IT capacities in the developing world, assistance is most often extended on a bilateral basis. Hence there is an acute need for more flows of multilateral assistance and for guidance from the ITU to ensure that adequate assistance is extended to developing countries. This is very crucial and may prove to be the only way by which the digital divide can be narrowed down and eventually closed. It may be the only way the developing countries can catch up with the rapid emergence of new technologies.

For such a purpose, it is obvious that the present budget of the ITU is insufficient: it is enough only for providing general guidance and holding regional seminars. There is therefore a grievous need for the ITU to increase its resources so as to be able to assist its members, particularly the developing countries among them, in view of the fact that each country has its own specific environment and a unique stage of development.

I am confident that a substantial increase in assistance to developing countries will also benefit the donors, as the resulting increase in the prosperity of the developing world will create new market opportunities for the donors. Hence, if the industry would set aside more resources for ITU assistance and activities, the development of the global telecommunication and ICT industry would certainly accelerate. But if the ITU continued to suffer the same limitations in resources under its present budget, we would continue to witness unbalanced development, national and international constraints, and so much negative impact on the global environment as well as lost opportunities.

Mr. Chairman,

Indonesia remains firmly committed to cooperating with all ITU Members, particularly the developing countries, in the struggle to narrow the digital divide, especially between the urban and rural areas in the developing countries. This robust commitment is based on our conviction that only by elevating the living standards of the people in the rural areas can we achieve a better future for all humankind.

Moreover, we are optimistic that future developments in the telecommunication and ICT industry will generate new opportunities for wealth creation in the developing countries as well as the developed ones. Let us therefore work together to bring about a brighter future for the industry, thereby contributing to the fulfillment of the WSIS Geneva Principles and Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Commitment and the Agenda for the Information Society, as well as the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Delegates,

Because of this firm commitment of ours to help in the narrowing of the digital divide and because of our great desire to contribute to the realization of the Union’s objectives, we seek your valuable support for the re-election of Indonesia to membership on the ITU Council at this ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Serving on the Council, we will do everything we can to help the Union address the challenges now confronting our members. And with your help, with every one of us helping one another, we in Indonesia are confident that we will make substantial progress in making the ITU the effective organization that we have always envisioned it to be.

I thank you.