UNCTAD and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have agreed to collaborate in their efforts to measure the magnitude of the digital divide and track global progress in the use of ICTs for development. With their combined expertise in developing indices and collecting statistics, the two organizations will provide an invaluable contribution to developing a Digital Opportunity Index (DOI), or composite ICT development index for international ICT performance evaluation and benchmarking.
The development of such an index is one of the goals of the Plan of Action adopted by the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in December 2003. During the second phase of the Summit, which took place in Tunis last week, the DOI was launched. As noted in paragraph 115 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, the DOI is part of an agreed methodology for monitoring progress in bridging the digital divide.
In June 2005, ITU, together with the Ministry of Information and Communication of the Republic of Korea and the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion, proposed a methodological approach for the DOI and applied it to 40 leading economies (see http://www.itu.int/DOI). UNCTAD will be joining the team involved in extending the DOI to include more economies, and will help analyse the DOI´s use in policy evaluation. UNCTAD´s expertise includes the recent publication The Digital Divide: ICT Development Indices 2004.
The collaboration between UNCTAD and ITU is also in response to an invitation by the UN General Assembly for the two agencies to cooperate closely in the measurement of ICT development, including the updating of information and communication technology development indices. The synergy fostered by the expertise and resources of UNCTAD, ITU and the government of the Republic of Korea is expected to contribute to the improvement of ICT data collection and analysis, as well as to the fulfillment of the WSIS goal of bridging the digital divide.
About UNCTAD
UNCTAD was created in 1964 as the permanent organ of the United Nations General Assembly to deal with trade, investment, finance and development issues. Throughout its history, UNCTAD has focused on promoting trade as an engine for development. It supports developing countries through research, intergovernmental discussions and technical cooperation in such areas as trade negotiations, enterprise development, competitiveness, trade facilitation, sustainable development and e-commerce. http://www.unctad.org
About ITU
ITU is the leading international organization within the United Nations system for information and communication technology issues and the global focal point for governments and the private sector to coordinate telecom networks and services. One of its key mandates is to foster telecommunication development in developing countries through policy advice, provision of technical assistance, mobilization of resources and initiatives to extend access and bridge the digital divide. http://www.itu.int
