STATEMENT BY

H.E.MR.SRGJAN KERIM,PhD
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA TO THE
UNITED NATIONS

MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT

(17-18 June 2002,New York)

Mr. President,

The decision to convene a meeting of the General Assembly (GA) devoted to bridging the digital divide and promoting digital opportunities in the emerging information society contained in Resolution 56/258 of the fifty-sixth session is a clear confirmation of the central role of the United Nations (UN), in particular the GA, in the promotion of partnership in the context of globalization.

Convening the World Summit, the UN has managed to grasp the opportunity to take the leadership in promoting synergies and coherence of all efforts directed at expanding the development impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The Government of the Republic of Macedonia (RM) considers this meeting of the GA devoted to ICT to be a very important step in the preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society. It will help formulate strategies for the development of ICT and lend a truly global dimension to efforts to bridge the digital divide and foster digital opportunity. Furthermore, the ICT will firmly facilitate the development of the necessary strategies.

The World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Geneva 2003 and in Tunis 2005, along with two other Summits this year—Financing for Development in Monterrey-Mexico and Sustainable Development in Johannesburg—can be regarded, in the context of globalization and the overall development process, as landmarks of a new approach in dealing with the challenges of today’s world as well as in meeting the Millenniums Summit goals.

Mr. President

The adoption of GA resolution 56/183 marked the introduction for the initial preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society inter alia , endorsing the leading role of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the process. This meeting gives me the opportunity to second the report of the Secretary General of ITU on the ongoing preparatory process, particularly the composition of the proposed themes for the World Summit contained in item 15 of the aforementioned report.

Identifying ways to enhance the effectiveness of the role of the UN for promoting development, with respect to access to and transfer of knowledge and technology—especially ICT through partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the private sector at its coordination segment ECOSOC, has provided an important contribution in this matter. The forthcoming Substantive session of ECOSOC in New York will certainly focus its attention on promoting the required dialogue among all actors, particularly within the Global Knowledge Partnership, in order to lay the foundations for a truly global and empowering knowledge and information society.

The principal mission of the UN Task Force, as rightly pointed out by SG Annan, should be spreading the ICT throughout the world and making their benefits accessible and meaningful for all humanity. In supporting such an approach, my government believes the Task Force should provide a global forum for national, regional, and international ICT for development issues through multi-stakeholder partnership.

Mr. President

On the national level ICT plays an indispensable role in creating a global knowledge-based economy, accelerating growth, raising competitiveness, promoting sustainable development, facilitating the effect of integration of all countries into the global economy, and, finally, eradicating poverty.

Information technology offers a huge opportunity in helping marginalized regions to connect to the world economy by overcoming many of the disadvantages of distance. A landlocked country, like my own for instance, surely would have a comparative advantage in ICT-based service exports (software, data transcription, telemarketing) as against export-oriented manufactures. Within this context I would like to draw your attention to the experience of the Republic of Macedonia with ICT so far.

As a newly emerging democracy with a transitional economy, my country has opted for a development strategy based upon an advanced communication infrastructure. This infrastructure provides a sound basis for building different IC services. In addition to the existing network and communication infrastructure, the main goal of ICT for development is building Web-based information systems in the following key areas: e-government, e-commerce and e-banking, distance education, and health care, as well as the environment.

The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, has launched the initiative “e-Macedonia for all” with the aim to enforce activities in order for the country to become closer to the information society and networked economy. For the implementation of this initiative the President established a Committee composed of experts in the area of education, administration, and banking, as well as representatives of computer companies.

The Committee has recently worked out recommendations in the form of an e- Declaration for fast development of an information society and digital economy in the RM as a national priority. The recommendations contain inter alia proposals to establish a National Agency for Information Technology, to prepare a National Strategy for the development of an information society, to prepare legislative measures and instruments for standardization of saving, exchange, and use of electronic data, and tax relief in retail business for e-commerce, as well as the introduction of a Web-Domain and e-mail address for the companies and the institutions on the national level.

Mr. President

The fact that 45 per cent of the Science and Technology Parks worldwide are engaged in IC or familiar technologies is an important indicator in the evaluation of the role of ICT among the new and emerging technologies. Rapid advances that are being made in new and emerging technologies in such fields as information, telecommunications, environment, clean energy, health, materials, and transportation technologies, and the increasing pace of globalization are imposing a new social and ethical responsibility on the scientific and technological community to direct applications of these new developments in ways that strengthen efforts to achieve the objectives and goals of sustainable development.

The last decade has been marked by two extraordinary developments whose impact and implications are still being digested. Politically, a major expansion of democracy has occurred around the world, both as a system of government and a value system commanding the support of ordinary people. Simultaneously, spurred by major new developments in ICT, the ways in which people and societies can and do relate to each other are being rapidly transformed. Therefore, the dimension of scientific and technological ethics should not be neglected in all our deliberations on ICT.

In this respect I take it for appropriate to quote to quote the Director General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsurra: “In the digital age, the equality in terms of dignity and rights of all human beings requires that ever greater vigilance and protection be exercised against the propagation of all forms of violence and aggression and against incitement to racism, xenophobia and all other types of behavior that infringe human rights.” Let this message be in the core of the guidelines for the preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society.

Mr. President

The importance of the ICT to the process of globalization, and especially the linkages among trade, finance, investment and development, cannot be overemphasized. In recent years, the consistency and focus with which the GA has been addressing the issue of globalization in all its complexity, testifies to its determination to advance the debate from a general understanding of the nature of globalization and its policy implications, through addressing its major individual components, such as ICT, to a comprehensive and integrated analysis aimed at producing action-oriented decisions and recommendations.

Globalization has made the task of pursuing development even more complex than before, primarily because of the increasing interaction among various, characteristic components. Exactly for this reason, it is necessary to ensure coherence and complementarities between the Plan of implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Monterrey Consensus for Financing for Development, on one hand, with the use of ICT for development, on the other hand, and it must become one of the key issues for the UN system and its agencies, especially for the GA in its future activities.

Thank you.