Issued by: Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Broadcasting
STATEMENT BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER FOR POST, TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND BROADCASTING, MR J NAIDOO AT THE PRESS LAUNCH OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY AND DEVELOPMENT (ISAD) CONFERENCE HELD IN PRETORIA ON 2 MAY 1996.
BACKGROUND
The Information Society and Development Conference is an initiative of South Africa through Deputy President Thabo Mbeki who, during the G-7 Information Society Conference in Brussels in February 1995, expressed the need for a conference that will start a global dialogue between the developing and developed world on Information Society. The conference recognised that information technology and its services provide valuable tools for social and economic development. The G-7 leaders at their Halifax Summit welcomed South Africa's suggestion that a follow up conference on the Global Information Society be held in South Africa in 1996.
OBJECTIVE
The main aim of the conference is to launch a global dialogue between a cross section of countries with different social, economical and cultural patterns to pursue policies that facilitate the integration of developing countries into the information society, as partners. The long term objective is to close the widening development gap in the context of the information society.
The integration of the developing countries into the Information Society presents a rare opportunity to enable these countries to leapfrog into the 21st Century.
It is envisaged that the initial stage of this joint endeavour will be to define a "shared vision" on the Global Information Society and support it by the adoption of core principles and identifying key means for co-operatively achieving a set of defined goals. Some pilot projects will be considered these includes government on-line and telemedicine.
A major constraint facing the developing world is the lack of information and communications infrastructure. The insufficient level of investment in information infrastructure development is one of the main reasons for this unsatisfactory situation. A major concern of the developing countries is to mobilise the necessary investment, in particular from the private sector, to develop networks for the whole of their population and to gain access to the global information infrastructure at an affordable price.
There are three key development imperatives to the information society:
INFRASTRUCTURE: telecommunications media energy computers
CONTENT information structures basic needs driven applications
PEOPLE education training development
It is important to underscore these three development imperatives, so that information technology should deliver services that impact directly on the quality of life of people.
A strong demand for information and communications technologies already exists in the developing world. Some evidence of this demand is found in the long waiting lists and delays for telephone connections, the explosive growth of cellular systems and Internet users, and the willingness of consumers to pay higher average levels of revenue per line than in the industrialised countries.
THE POTENTIAL OF INFORMATION SOCIETY ON DEVELOPMENT
New information and communications technologies, will become increasingly affordable as costs fall, thus helping developing nations "leapfrog" stages of development in setting up their own infrastructure.
In order to be sustainable, the introduction of information and communications technologies should be co-ordinated with other supportive infrastructure. For example, the expansion of countries' electricity network could be accompanied by the simultaneous provision of telephone.
To share in the benefits of the information society, countries must align their strategic planning and regulatory frameworks to the realities of the new global economy. This alignment requires innovative policies, regulatory reforms, and changes in investment patterns. The industrialised countries have embarked upon this realignment with more vigour. Developing countries must follow this trend or risk being marginalised in the global economy and suffering sever competitive "disadvantages" for their goods and services. Without proper strategies to address these major changes in the global economy, demands on social spending in the future will certainly increase. The challenge is that now is the time to invest in the information society.
Like all societies, the Global Information Society needs to be built on a set of common rules, tolerance, respect for diversity and collaboration. Easing its birth, like dealing with all major "shifts" means overcoming uncertainties. While it is bringing our world closer together, existing differences in social and economic development are becoming more apparent. This conference presents us with an opportunity to start bridging the gap through concrete proposals and pilot projects.
CONFERENCE OUTPUT
This conference is the beginning of a process of dialogue among nations and peoples. The agenda is designed to have concrete proposals and pilot projects to ensure that the objective set are realised.
The following is among the proposed programme of action and pilot projects.