ITU/94-3
9 March 1994
Original: English
US Vice-President Al Gore to address
ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference
US Vice-President Al Gore will address the first World Telecommunication Development Conference organized by the International Telecommunication Union in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on 21 March. The Conference, to last until 29 March, is aimed at adopting a common vision for the future of telecommunications.
Mr Gore will share with the expected 700 participants from over 130 countries President Clinton's vision on the role of international telecommunications in global development. 
During the first three days of the Conference, over 40 Ministers and business leaders are expected to present their views and share with participants their experience and strategies which, for some, have enabled their country to experience spectacular progress or for others have guided their company's success.
The conference has an ambitious dual objective: 
	set global goals and strategies to provide the necessary guidance to address the new challenges in a rapidly changing telecommunication environment
	adopt a bold Action Plan to enable countries and their business partners to successfully set policies conducive to development and implement far-reaching programmes to meet the needs of all sectors of society 
According to a new report to be issued by the ITU for the WTDC Conference – the World Telecommunication Development Report, the gap between low-income and high-income countries is unacceptably high in economic, social and humanitarian terms and the gap is only slowly narrowing if at all. Although low-income countries have increased their share of global telephone main lines over the last ten years and have registered growth of nearly three times the global average, they still have less than 5% share of global telephone main lines whereas they are home to some 55% of the world's population. "A major requirement is for fresh investment which, in turn, requires a fresh approach to how the telecommunication sector is to be organized and WTDC will provide a opportunity for the wider telecommunication community to focus on these and other policy issues and priorities", concludes the report.