PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
UN partners with European Commission to boost ICT investment in Africa, Asia & Caribbean
The United Nations (UN) has announced a new agreement between the United Nations telecommunications agency and the European Commission (EC) that aims to attract greater investments in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The collaboration between the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Commission is a follow-up to commitments made at the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, in October when the EC expressed support for the agency’s regulatory reform initiatives in Africa.
In a press statement from its Geneva headquarters, the ITU notes that over the past decade, most countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and the Caribbean have begun reforms in the telecommunication sector, including through setting up national regulatory bodies and introducing competition. At the same time, large sections of the population remain without basic access to ICT services.
Many countries still need to undertake crucial reforms that would provide regulators with the tools and authority to effectively regulate the sector and thereby attract greater investment, promote innovation and build confidence in ICT markets. The new agreement aims to harmonize regulatory frameworks within the different regions. It also seeks to build human and institutional capacity in the field of ICT through a range of training, education and knowledge-sharing measures. An effective and harmonized regulatory framework will encourage private sector investment, while more competition will lead to lower prices and better service for customers.
The ITU says a fundamental shift in policy and regulatory frameworks is considered essential to achieve by 2015 the connectivity targets contained in the set of global anti-poverty objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/MDGs).
It will also contribute to achieving the objectives of the World Summit on the Information Society (http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html WSIS), which recognized that “to maximize the social, economic and environmental benefits of the Information Society, governments need to create a trustworthy, transparent and non-discriminatory legal, regulatory and policy environment.”
As part of the agreement, the European Union has allocated 8 million Euros from the European Development Fund, to which ITU will add $500,000 of its own resources. The work will be managed and implemented by ITU. For more details visit http://www.un.org/news.
ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, and a global focal point for governments and the private sector in developing networks and services. For more than 40 years, ITU has coordinated shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, and established worldwide standards to assure seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums bringing together the most influential representatives of government and the telecommunications industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and technology for the benefit of the global community, and in particular the developing world. From broadband internet to latest-generation wireless technologies, from aeronautical and maritime navigation to radio astronomy and satellite-based meteorology, from phone and fax services to TV broadcasting and next-generation networks, ITU continues to play a central role in helping the world communicate.
Many countries still need to undertake crucial reforms that would provide regulators with the tools and authority to effectively regulate the sector and thereby attract greater investment, promote innovation and build confidence in ICT markets. The new agreement aims to harmonize regulatory frameworks within the different regions. It also seeks to build human and institutional capacity in the field of ICT through a range of training, education and knowledge-sharing measures. An effective and harmonized regulatory framework will encourage private sector investment, while more competition will lead to lower prices and better service for customers.
The ITU says a fundamental shift in policy and regulatory frameworks is considered essential to achieve by 2015 the connectivity targets contained in the set of global anti-poverty objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/MDGs).
As part of the agreement, the European Union has allocated 8 million Euros from the European Development Fund, to which ITU will add $500,000 of its own resources. The work will be managed and implemented by ITU. For more details visit http://www.un.org/news.
ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, and a global focal point for governments and the private sector in developing networks and services. For more than 40 years, ITU has coordinated shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, and established worldwide standards to assure seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums bringing together the most influential representatives of government and the telecommunications industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and technology for the benefit of the global community, and in particular the developing world. From broadband internet to latest-generation wireless technologies, from aeronautical and maritime navigation to radio astronomy and satellite-based meteorology, from phone and fax services to TV broadcasting and next-generation networks, ITU continues to play a central role in helping the world communicate.
