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Mr. Houlin Zhao

Monday, 9 May 2011

13:00 – 15:00

Rumeli C Hall (Upper Level)

Lutfi Kirdar Center

LDC IV

9 May 2011
Istanbul, Turkey

High-Level Interactive Thematic Debate (ITD):
Enhancing productive capacities and the role of
the private sector in LDCs

Houlin Zhao

Deputy Secretary-General,
International Telecommunication Union

Excellencies,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

  • At ITU, we could not agree more, that “productive capacities are developed through investments in physical and human capital, social and environmental capital, and through technological acquisition and innovation”.
  • As we all know, in the 21st century, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become essential infrastructure, just like electricity or water supplies.
  • ICTs, the Internet – and especially broadband – are the most extraordinary enablers. Particularly in the developing world, and particularly in countries with large rural and remote populations.
  • We have seen this already with the mobile boom in the past decade, which has changed everything, and transformed the lives of people everywhere.
  • And broadbandis the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology.
  • Without a doubt, these technologies have resulted in the diversification of national economies, structural transformation and a more beneficial integration into the global economy.
  • They are also the most powerful tools we have at our disposal in our race to meet the deadline, just four years away, for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
  • The Internet – especially the always-on, high-speed Internet – has the potential to massively expand the effective delivery of vital services, such as healthcare and education, to distributed populations which could never be properly served by traditional, centralized models.
  • For governments, businesses and individuals alike, the benefits are dramatic.ICTs and broadbandare facilitating progress in almost all sectors of trade, enhancing productive capacities. They are generating jobs, driving growth and productivity, and underpinning long-term economic competitiveness.
  • So it is not surprising that, following the global financial crisis, many countries have included the expansion of broadband networks as crucial elements of their economic stimulus plans. In fact, as of the beginning of this year, more than 80 countries had formulated national plans for the deployment of broadband.
  • Broadband networks can help policy-makers devise strategies and make more efficient use of resources.ICTs, as you know, are also a driving force of the new green economy.
  • A good example is ‘smart’ electricity grids that use broadband for monitoring and control. Smart grids allow electricity companies to limit losses, prevent outages, and provide customers with real-time information for managing their own energy use at work or at home.
  • Working lives are also being changed through broadband.
  • Farmers and fishermen, for example, can already receive weather forecasts directly on their mobile phones; broadband gives more power to these systems, by supporting better modelling of weather patterns and faster sharing of data. In addition, information on sustainable farming techniques can be sent directly to wherever it is needed.
  • Innovative projects are also improving the lives of slum-dwellers – for example in Brazil, India and Kenya – through providing access to employment and training.
  • Broadband access to the Internet gives small businesses everywhere the opportunity to participate in e-commerce.
  • Expanded access to ICTs is already bringing services such as mobile banking to tens of millions of people in the developing world, giving them the kind of financial power to manage their lives which they have never before had.
  • Broadband access to the Internet holds the promise of breaking infrastructure bottlenecks and short-circuiting the traditional development cycle. These networks have the potential to make the best of knowledge that can be shared instantaneously across the globe.

Ladies and gentlemen,

  • With a mandate to ‘Connect the World’ in 2005, ITU launched the Connect the World initiative to help mobilize human, financial and technical resources for the implementation of the connectivity targets of the World Summit on the Information Society and the Regional Initiatives adopted by Member States at the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC).
  • The first in the series, the Connect Africa Summit took place in Kigali, Rwanda in 2007. Forty-three countries in Africa were represented and some 20 industrial leading companies also participated, along with development banks, international organizations and other stakeholders.
  • During the Connect Africa Summit, partners pledged USD 55 billion to implement the agreed goals. Since then, considerable progress has been achieved, and partners have reported so far investments of over 21 billion in infrastructure and services in the region.
  • ITU, with the support of other development partners, has already held a similar summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and is planning summits for the Americas, the Arab States and the Asia-Pacific region, where the remaining LDCs are located, with the purpose of connecting the unconnected by 2015.

Ladies and gentlemen,

  • It is surely no coincidence that of the two LDCs with the highest Internet penetration, one (the Maldives) recently became the third LDC to graduate to developing country status, while the other (Tuvalu) is expected to be among the next countries to graduate.
  • I am confident that we will continue to see the number of LDCs shrink, as more countries join Botswana, Cape Verde and the Maldives, and give up their ‘Least Developed’ status.
  • While mobile technologies have gone a long way in bridging the digital divide in LDCs, access to broadband, particularly in rural areas, needs to be addressed.
  • Infrastructure investments are a major pillar of productive capacity development. Both governments and development partners should increase their share of infrastructure expenditure, and target investments in priority areas and sectors as defined in national development strategies.
  • While sectoral priorities will vary across LDCs, investments in rural infrastructure are particularly important to increase agricultural productivity and raise incomes of the rural poor, and will contribute to increasing food security.
  • As the technical and policy debates on broadband deployment unfold, it is therefore essential that both developed and developing counties – and of course LDCs in particular – take a seat at the table to ensure that this powerful new tool is made as widely available as possible.

Distinguished colleagues,

  • May I conclude by leaving you with this key message:
  • “ICTs will play an absolutely pivotal part in driving the sustainable economic and social development of LDCs and enhancing their productive capacities over the next decade”.

Thank you.