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..Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 13
October 2004
Press Release No: G/22/2004
COMMUNITY E-CENTRES CAN HELP BRIDGE DIGITAL DIVIDE
BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services)--
UNESCAP has already begun a “focused thrust” on
community e-centres to share best practices, build capacity
and demonstrate pilot projects as a practical step toward to
assist members and associate members in realizing the benchmarks
established by the World Summit’s Plan of Action.
“There exists a huge digital gap between
and within the countries in Asia-Pacific,” Mr. Kim Hak-Su,
UNESCAP Executive Secretary told the First Session of the Subcommittee
on Information, Communications and Space Technology.
The First Session of the Subcommittee on Information,
Communications and Space Technology of the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) is
being held from 13-15 October 2004 at the United Nations Conference
Centre in Bangkok.
The Session was inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Surapong
Suebwonglee, Minister of Information and Communication Technology
of Thailand who stated that the ICT market for the Asia-Pacific
region is the biggest in the developing world and is the fastest
growing.
As for the Asia-Pacific region, community e-centre
could be one of the priority areas for future action, said the
Thai Minister.
He also noted with appreciation that ESCAP has
become increasingly visible in ICT activities. “We appreciate
the large number of ICT activities ESCAP conducted in sharing
best practices, capacity-building demonstration projects and
regional advisory services. It is hoped that in the future,
ESCAP will continue to make activities result-based, demand
driven and catered to regional and local conditions with focuses
on field operations that can be useful to Asian and Pacific
countries,” said the Minister.
The Subcommittee is mandated to promote capacity-building
for creating an enabling environment for the development of
information and communication technology (ICT), transfer and
application, particularly through regional cooperation and networking
of governmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations
for the benefit of developing economies.
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