Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández
First Lady of the Dominican Republic
On behalf of the Dominican Republic, my husband,
President Leonel Fernández Reyna and myself, I wish to thank
you for the warm welcome we have received from the people of
Tunisia and His Excellency, President Ben Ali. We also wish
to thank the Honorable Kofi Annan and the Honorable Yosio
Utsumi, for hosting this important second phase of the World
Information Society Summit that opens new opportunities for
developing and less advanced nations to solidify their
intent to develop and expand the use of information and
communications technologies as they face the challenge of
transforming the inequality and social exclusion resulting
from the Digital Divide into a Digital Opportunity.
Our country, embracing the vision of President Fernández,
has decided to build a society based on information and
knowledge, whose main goal is sustainable human development
as a new paradigm for social, economic and technological
development. Along this premise, the Dominican Republic has
implemented a National Strategy for this purpose called E-Dominicana,
setting the essential institutional framework with the
creation of a National Commission for the Creation of an
Information Society (Comisión Nacional para la creación de
una sociedad de la información, CNSIC,) that is
participatory and inclusive in its quest for a better
future.
We firmly believe, that a true
information society must be anchored on a national
development plan that is based on three key pillars:
Capacity-building to effectively exercise their rights,
achieve Sustained Economic growth and promote Equality and
Social Inclusion."
This is the global challenge of the new
millennium. Thereby, we must be firm in our decision to
ensure that all our citizens, both men and women, may
benefit from the opportunities the new technologies can
bring. The Governments, the private sector, the civil
society and international organizations have an important
duty and responsibility for the development of the
Information and Communication Society, which assumes a joint
effort that needs the cooperation and partnership of all the
stakeholders, and above all, we must have the will to honor
the commitments we have made in this Summit.
For less favored nations, like ours, the
advantages of an Information Society are an invaluable
support to strengthen the cognitive and competitive skills
and capacities, both individual and collective, that will
allow us to harness better opportunities to achieve
sustained growth with wellness and progress.
The Dominican Government, aware that
poverty and social inequality are not only the result of
absence of revenues, but also, the absence of opportunities
for developing the capacities and potential of our people,
has initiated a series of programs where Information and
Communications Technology plays a vital role, since it has
demonstrated to be a tool for scientific, economic and
social development of nations, saving time and bridging the
distance from the rest of the world and universal knowledge.
This is why the Dominican Government has
initiated an extensive program aimed at reducing the Digital
Divide. The Office of the First Lady has been entrusted with
the task of making technology work for the people in the
most destitute areas by forming Community Technology
Centers, that will serve as means of social inclusion by
providing training in the use of ICTs for development,
projects to increase access and connectivity, the
installation of the Caribbean NAPs, the development of an
E-Government infrastructure, continuous updating of the
educational actors, promoting the use of E-commerce tools
and incentives for the development of ICT-intensive
businesses.
We are firmly convinced, that to promote
an information society, it is essential to create an
enabling environment, domestically and globally, that is
why, this Summit is a historical step for our countries,
because it provides a tangible and viable opportunity to use
ICTs to ensure achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
The results of the Summit are,
unquestionably, an important step for our countries in their
processes of integration, to reduce the Digital Divide and
towards their insertion into the Information Society.
Therefore, we are extremely pleased by the creation of the
Internet Governance Forum and consider the commitment in the
Declaration of Principles of the WSIS adopted in Geneva a
core element that guarantees cross-sectional participation,
transparency and the other key principles which we
steadfastly hold true.
Likewise, we are very pleased the world
has understood that the significance of the Internet lies
not in the technological platform that supports it but in
the new social and economic relations that surround and
result from it, that is, the changes in the social fabric
and all the areas that have emerged from such technological
pursuits.
Our country is fully convinced that we
are, collectively, entering into a new era that offers vast
possibilities, therefore we reiterate our commitment to be
an active part of these processes, we will contribute the
experience, work and collaboration of a visionary government
and a friendly country that truly and fervently believes
that through the opportunities resulting from Information
and Communications Technologies, and our work together, we
can build a real information society for the development of
our people and the prosperity of our people.
Thank you.
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