Third UN Conference on LDCs
17th Meeting (AM & PM)
DEV/BRU/18
18 May 2001
OPPORTUNITIES
CREATED BY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN POOREST COUNTRIES FOCUS
OF FORUM ON ‘THE DIGITAL ECONOMY’ AT BRUSSELS CONFERENCE
The wealth of opportunities
being created by information and communication technology (ICT) in the world’s
poorest countries was the focus of a forum held today at the Third United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, being held in Brussels.
The forum --
entitled “The Digital Economy: Change
the Perception” -- addressed how to extend the benefits of the Internet and
other digital technologies to the least developed countries (LDCs), with
presentations by LDC business people who had successfully taken advantage of the
Internet, as well as international officials involved in initiatives to effect
change in digital technology.
Speakers
noted the considerable challenges facing entrepreneurs in the developing world
who wished to break into “e-commerce”.
A lack of infrastructure, training, laws, payment methods, and resources
were among the problems they faced.
They stressed, nevertheless, the huge potential for economic growth
offered by digital technology, and pointed out that the Internet and related
technology could “level the playing field” for LDC businesses seeking to
compete internationally.
In an
opening statement, Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said Peter F. Drucker had best
captured the essence of the information revolution when he had said it should
not be compared to the industrial revolution, but rather to Gutenberg’s
printing press. That model showed the
advantages, as well as the problems, of new ICT. Some had embraced the technology and others had been frightened
by it.
What mattered most was not
the physical invention, but the attitude with which the invention was
approached, he added. That was even
more crucial when the invention dealt with the dissemination of information. He stressed that three elements must be
considered in any discussion of ICT and LDCs:
the need to focus on people; the need for adequate public policy
frameworks; and the need for good partnerships.
The first half of the meeting
was devoted to a series of discussions on: products and services; tele-services;
and e-infrastructure for local e-commerce.
During the panel on products and services, Dawit
Bekele described his experience as managing director of Ethiolink/Ethiogift, an
online shopping site based in Ethiopia.
He said getting started in e-commerce had not been easy, as the Internet
infrastructure in the country had been very poor, there was almost no electronic
payment system, there was little awareness of e-commerce, and funding had been
limited. Having overcome those
problems, Ethiolink hoped to expand into such areas as providing tele-services
and information sharing.
He said Ethiopia’s poverty
could become a competitive advantage, as salaries were so much lower than in
the United States, where much of his company’s business was actually done. He called on the various international
organizations to help LDCs overcome the problems that kept them from fully
participating in the digital revolution.
Following Mr. Bekele’s
presentation, Christina Jordan, Founding Director, LifeInAfrica.com, Uganda,
gave an overview of her business, as did Teshomo Kebede, Director, Genuine
Leather Craft, Ethiopia.
When the panel on
tele-services opened, Sanjib Raj Bhandari, CEO, Servingsminds, Nepal, said his
company was a multimedia contact centre, which outsourced its services to the
English-speaking countries. It tried to
be anywhere from 40 to 60 per cent cheaper than North American companies and
employed the latest technologies. The
company had faced marketing challenges, which had been overcome by building a
world-class Web site and convincing people that the company had the experience
needed to provide the services.
Perhaps, the largest problem had been overcoming the perception of Nepal
as a country that was more geared to tourism and other industries than to the
Internet.
Jean-Marie Noagbodgi, CEO,
Café Informatique, Togo, and Sharif Ambia, Managing Director, Technosoft
Transcription Ltd., Bangladesh, also made presentations.
Speaking on the subject of
e-infrastructure for local e-commerce, Jonathan Campaigne, Executive Director,
Pride Africa, Uganda, a micro-finance institution, said his company serviced
over 90,000 informal-sector micro-entrepreneurs in the areas of research and
development. His company believed that
the greatest impediment to change was lack of access to timely and appropriate
information and sought to combat that problem.
Internet-based technologies could be used to break down the barriers
between the “haves” and “have-nots”.
The second half of the
meeting focused on specific actions that would be or had already been taken to
help bring LDCs into the Internet revolution.
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, the
Minister for Communications of South Africa, delivered a message on behalf of
many other African countries, stressing that ICT was a great tool for
development. She said ICT
infrastructure development must be a part of normal economic planning. While Africa was marginalized from the world
at large, as well as the digital economy, it had come a long way, and
initiatives had been taken to address its digital shortcomings. An Organization of African Unity (OAU)
summit in July would decide the way forward.
Roger Dehaybe, General
Administrator, Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie, said the LDCs
should be able to participate actively and effectively in the information
society. They should gain ownership of
the process and decide
on the direction to be followed. All sectors of society must work to tackle
the problem. La Francophonie had tried
to galvanize opinion at all levels and advocated actions that were rooted
locally. They had set up a network to
help share computer skills and familiarize LDCs with cutting-edge software, as
well as facilitate access to free software.
Carlos Braga, Acting
Director, Development Gateway Programme, and Manager at the World Bank, said
ICT and connectivity made it possible to bridge distances. It also made it possible to connect to the
world’s base of knowledge, and facilitated “leapfrogging” in the development
process. The question was how to use
technology to address human and social needs.
The velocity of the expansion of modern information structures had been
without parallel, he noted. He gave an
overview of the Development Gateway Foundation initiative undertaken by the
Bank, which sought to facilitate access to relevant information for
development.
R. Badrinath, Director,
Division on Trade and Support Services, International Trade Centre, presented
“Building the E-Trade Bridge for LDCs”, an action-oriented programme to assist
small businesses in building a bridge across the digital divide. John Bryant, CEO, Operation Hope, spoke on
e-finance, digital empowerment and twenty-first century digital literacy for
underserved communities, and David Souter, of the Commonwealth
Telecommunications Organizations, spoke on integrating LDCs into the digital
economy.
Other speakers included
Ingrid Hagen, Manager, Partnerships, International Institution for
Communication; Edward Addo-Dankwa, Project Manager, AGRINET, Ministry of Food
and Agriculture of Ghana; and Makane Faye of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa.
A representative of Japan’s
technology sector gave an overview of his country’s efforts to support LDCs in
the ICT fields. Japan was devoted to
providing substantial official development assistance (ODA) for ICT, he noted.
At the outset of the
meeting, James Hattoir of CNN interviewed Ram Sharan Mahat, Minister of Finance
of Nepal, who noted that about half of Nepal’s rural territory was without
telephones, and the Government was taking measures to address that issue, with
an eye to creating the basic infrastructure for the ICT field. The private sector was showing great
interest in investing in Nepal’s ICT field, he noted, adding that the private
sector was better suited than the Government -- which could create better
infrastructure and laws -- to take the lead in all the value added
services. The Internet was still a
luxury for the urban elite in Nepal, and the Government wanted it to be
available for all citizens. The
democratization of the ICT sector was essential.
In another interview,
conducted at the start of the second half of the meeting, Linda Duberly of
Granada Media, spoke with Sultana Nazneen, Managing Director, Grameen
Communications, a non-profit organization committed to poverty alleviation in
Bangladesh through the provision of multi-purpose information services for
isolated regions.
Bruno Lanvin, Executive
Secretary of DOT Force, World Bank, introduced the panel on products and
services. Jacques Rostenne, Perwit
International, Canada, introduced the panel on tele-services.