The importance of WTDC-02 for the World Summit on the Information Society

The global information society continues to evolve at break-neck speed with information and communication technologies (ICT) at the heart of this fundamental transformation. However, the uneven access to ICTs, commonly referred to as the “digital divide”, continues to be a challenge. Governments and regulators have a duty to make sure that telecommunication access is available to everyone. We also have a responsibility to ensure that telecommunication is priced reasonably, making not just the technology, but also the services available and affordable to all sectors of society.

In order to meet these challenges, the International Telecommunication Union is playing an increasingly vital role as a facilitator of international policy-making. This is especially important to the work of the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-02) as it addresses the problems of access to ICTs. These include imbalances between developed and developing nations, between urban and rural areas, and between the younger and older generations.

While many middle-income developing countries are making rapid progress to achieve world-class networks, it is in the world’s poorest nations where the problems of the digital divide are most acute. The challenge facing WTDC-02 is to show how sector reform and investment in information and communication technologies can make a genuine difference to improving the lives of the world’s most deprived. I believe that together we can meet this important challenge.

The most prosperous nations of the world, the G8, have made a joint commitment to address the global inequities of the information society. As part of that commitment, WTDC-02 is holding a special session to discuss both short- and long-term action plans to bridge the digital divide. This will provide critical input for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to be held under ITU’s leadership in 2003 and 2005, at which time a common vision and understanding of the information society will be developed by all of its stakeholders. As a result, ITU finds itself in an historic and privileged position. The work accomplished by WTDC-02, together with that of the United Nations ICT Task Force, the G8, the Global Digital Opportunity Initiative and other international stakeholders will allow us, for the first time, to obtain a commitment to this vision from those at the highest political level on both sides of the digital divide.

	Yoshio Utsumi Secretary-General International Telecommunication Union