OECD, UN see growing rich-poor IT access divide

["Irfan Khan" <khania@super.net.pk>]

January 18, 2001 


OECD, UN see growing rich-poor IT access divide

DUBAI: OECD and United Nations officials warned on Wednesday of a 
growing gap between rich and poor nations in information technology 
(IT), which they said was essential for economic growth.

"Information and Communications technologies and e-commerce have been 
identified as unique opportunities for development," Herwig Schlogl, 
Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation 
and Development said.

"Leapfrogging into the future is not an abstract notion. It is a real 
opportunity for developing countries and poverty reduction," he told 
a conference on e-commerce in Dubai, the trading hub of the United 
Arab Emirates.

The OECD, whose members comprise most developed nations in the world, 
said that late last year the number of Internet hosts to population 
was higher in North America than in Africa by 540 to one, double the 
ratio in 1997. "The estimate of Internet hosts worldwide in October 
2000 was 94 million of which 95.6 per cent are in OECD area," Rouben 
Indikjian, head of banking at the United Nations Conference on Trade 
and Development (UNCTAD) said.

"From the remaining 4.4 per cent, more than half are the hosts from 
China, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, while Argentina, Brazil, 
Malaysia and South Africa account for another 24 per cent," he told 
the conference.

Quoting OECD statistics, Indikjian said 95 per cent of secure 
Internet servers and 97 per cent of web sites were concentrated in 
the OECD area with the United States maintaining a dominant position 
there.

Schlogl said developing countries should help make new technologies 
available by deregulating their economies, building adequate 
infrastructure and providing creative models for individual access. 
"In some countries universal access is not yet a reality. Access 
requires legislation and regulations that encourage competition among 
firms and technologies, affordable prices, inter-operability and 
interconnection of national and global networks," he said.

He said Dubai has been identified as a 'model case' of how a 
developing country can emerge as a regional hub for information 
technology. "Dubai will send positive signals to the region," he said.

Last year, Dubai launched Internet City, the region's first IT free 
zone, and Dubai Ideas Oasis, an IT incubation and venture capital 
community. Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum 
told the conference earlier that the digital gap could threaten world 
security and called for an international body to assist developing 
countries improve access to new technologies.


http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2001-daily/18-01-
2001/business/b2.htm