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KEYNOTE ADDRESS
 BY
MR. KIM HAK-SU
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
AND
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
OF THE UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA
AND THE PACIFIC

Mr. Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation,
Excellencies, distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I consider it an honour and privilege to address the distinguished participants attending this Government Leaders Forum – Asia.  This Forum provides us an opportunity to discuss the roles that information and communication technology plays in addressing the issues that are of importance to this region.  I should like to thank Microsoft Corporation for organizing this Forum and for the excellent arrangements it has made.

Our region, the Asia-Pacific, is the most diverse region in the world.  It includes three of the world's most populous countries.  It has some of the most highly industrialized economies.  While a number of countries are approaching middle-income status, Asia-Pacific also has 14 least developed countries, 12 landlocked developing countries, and 17 small island developing states.  Indeed, while the region is rapidly establishing itself as the powerhouse and brain center of the world economy, it is also home to 700 million people living on less than a dollar a day, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the world's poor.

In terms of the Millennium Development Goals that the world leaders adopted at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, we have broadly categorized countries in the region into three clusters: fast achievers, slow achievers, and off-track countries.

The result of our studies at UNESCAP indicates that most countries in East Asia and many in South East Asia are fast achievers.  They are expected to meet the goal of reducing by half the level of poverty by 2015 as well as many of the other targets.  The slow achievers are largely concentrated in South Asia and West Asia.  They appear to be on track in reducing the incidence of income poverty but not in many of the other targets. The off-track countries are mostly the least developed, landlocked countries with economies in transition and the island developing countries. They face daunting challenges in making progress towards reducing poverty levels.

I could summarize the conditions existing in the region as follows:  The economic dynamism of the region, combined with its vast human and natural resources, has resulted in economic growth rates that are among the highest in the world.  But the benefits of growth are spread unevenly in the region, thus further widening already sharp disparities in the levels of economic and social development.

Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

In the light of these prevailing conditions, we need to ask one important question: How can we harness information and communication technology to reduce the widening disparities and sustain the economic dynamism of the region?

Before I offer an answer to this question, allow me first to cite some interesting statements from the past.

In 1895, Lord Kelvin said, "Heavier than air flying machines are impossible".  In 1900, Charles Duell, former commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented".  In 1932, Albert Einstein remarked, "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be attainable".  In 1977, Ken Olson said, "There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their house". Even Bill Gates was reported to have said in 1981 that, "640K ought to be enough for anybody".

The message I want to impart in citing these examples is that even the most distinguished experts can be very wrong when it comes to predicting the trends in technological development and where technology will bring us.  Every technological innovation has the potential to set in motion a virtuous cycle of technological advancement.  And this is most especially true in information and communication technology.  Accordingly, it will be extremely difficult to answer with certainty and in great detail the question of how information and communication technology can address the present challenges in the region, and where it will bring us.  

However, there is one thing I am very certain of.  I have no doubt that the world is moving inexorably into a knowledge economy.  A new economic order is emerging that places a premium on knowledge.  In this new order, we can apply the power of knowledge to meet the great challenge of eradicating poverty and improving people's lives.  My answer, therefore, to the question I posed earlier is this: We need to put knowledge at the center of our development efforts to enable the Asia-Pacific region to effectively participate in the new economy and address the pressing challenges of today.

To put knowledge at the core of our development initiatives will require three things.  First, it will require a vision of the desired future.  Second, it will require effective policies towards that vision. And third, it will require appropriate strategies in line with such policies.

First, we need a vision of the desired future.  We need a clear sense of how a knowledge-based economy can serve the future.  This vision must be strategic. It must have the capacity to recognize what can be changed and what cannot.  Developing this vision involves setting clear priorities.

I suggest that our vision for the future be this.  We want a peaceful and prosperous future and we want it sooner rather than later.  To bring about this future, we need to harness enabling technologies, such as information and communication technology, to bring us to a knowledge economy.  To achieve this vision, we need leadership by the private sector with strong support by the government.  I repeat, in a knowledge economy – where the only thing permanent is change, and where technological advances occur rapidly – the leadership must be lodged in the private sector.  The government's role must be catalytic and supportive.  It must be predictable and consistent. Government intervention must be minimalist and simple.

Second, we need effective policies that will lead us to our vision.  For us to effectively participate in the knowledge economy, we must institute policies to narrow the knowledge gaps that separate poor countries from rich countries.  We need to institute effective policies for acquiring knowledge from outside and inside.  We need to develop the technological competence to search for appropriate technologies.  We need to increase investment in research and development.  We need to institute policies for absorbing knowledge. We need to promote lifelong education to enable our workforce to continually assess, adapt and apply knowledge.

Third, we need a strategy.  This strategy must be practical.  It must lead us to a dynamic accumulation of skills and knowledge that will have a major impact on our development goals and aspirations. Finally, the strategy must be vigorously implemented.

Singapore is among the first countries in the region to adopt a vision, formulate a policy and implement a strategy to develop a knowledge economy.   In 1981, Singapore launched a program to computerize its civil service.  In 1986, it formulated the National IT Plan.  Then in 1994, Singapore spelled out its vision for the future – that of turning Singapore into an "Intelligent Island".  Other countries of the region, including the Republic of Korea, China, India and Malaysia, follow a similar path.

To help bring knowledge to the core of development efforts, we, at UNESCAP, are assisting countries of the region in developing vision, formulating policy, and implementing strategy.  As part of the reform that I initiated four years ago, we have set up at the UNESCAP secretariat a new Information, Communication and Space Technology Division. The division's principal mandate is to apply information, communication and space technologies to the tasks of reducing poverty and promoting development through regional cooperation.  At the request of governments, we also provide developing member countries advisory services on information and communication technology.

In cooperation with the Asian Development Bank, we will be establishing community e-centers in a number of countries in South Asia, including Nepal, Bhutan and others.  We are currently setting up a knowledge management unit in the Office of the Executive Secretary. Its mandate will be to create awareness of knowledge as a resource and to manage the processes for the creation, storage and sharing of knowledge.

I may add that just this morning I had a very fruitful discussion with Mr. Steve Ballmer on possible cooperation between UNESCAP and Microsoft to use information and communication technology to build capacity, facilitate e-government initiatives, promote e-commerce and e-trade, and improve the delivery of basic services in the least developed and developing countries of the region.  

Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

In his book Post Capitalist Society, Peter Drucker states that the basic economic resource in the new millennium is no longer the traditional resource endowments of labor and capital, but knowledge. He argues that value is created by productivity and innovation, which are both applications of knowledge to work.

The same message is echoed by Bill Gates in his book Business @ the Speed of Thought. He observes that if the 1980s were about quality, and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity. It will be about how quickly the nature of business will change. About how quickly business will be transacted. About how information access will alter the lifestyle and expectations of people.

The very fact that information and communication technology is advancing at a relentless pace indicates that society values it.  It shows that people wish to incorporate ICT into their lives. It reveals that consumers accept the products and services that technology produces.  We can therefore assert with certainty that there will be continued advances in information and communication technology. And this will give rise to continued changes in the techno-economic paradigm of the countries in Asia and the Pacific.  It will drive the economy of the region towards even more information-intensive and technology-based products and processes.

In closing, I hope that this Forum can discuss how the Asia-Pacific region can keep pace with the rest of the world and compete in an increasingly interconnected world. I hope that it can provide some responses to the challenge of effectively participating in the knowledge society of the future with the right vision, policy and strategy.  

I am confident that this Forum will provide rich ideas for consideration of countries in the region.  

I wish you then a highly fruitful discussion. And thank you for your kind attention.