ICTS are a Detonator to Growth With Equality and Promoting Regional Integration

(29 September 2010) Seventeen Latin American and Caribbean countries that are part of the Regional Plan of Action for the information society participated in the Preparatory Meeting for the Third Ministerial Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay to discuss a long-term strategy for the region known as eLAC, which asserts that information and communications technologies (ICTs) are instruments of economic development and social inclusion.

The meeting, held 23-24 September, was inaugurated by the Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, Alberto Breccia, and the Director of ECLAC's Production, Productivity and Management Division, Mario Cimoli. 

Participants to the meeting addressed the current regional plan of action for the information society (eLAC2010) and discussed a new proposal for the next five years (eLAC2015). The agreements reached during this meeting are expected to be approved during the Ministerial Conference to take place in Lima, Peru in November.

Cimoli expressed ECLAC's strong commitment to the eLAC process. "ICTs are a detonator for growth with equality and promoting regional integration," he said.

Equality and fairness in the region are two values that this United Nations regional commission feels strongly about, along with improving integration through dialogue and co-government, said Cimoli.

He underscored that meetings like these are fruitful for dialogue among countries and creating consensus that may encourage a deeper understanding of the need for policies to promote an information society at a regional level.

Breccia highlighted the value of the meeting and the need to strengthen the digital agendas and ICTs as tools for development in order to advance in social justice.

During the first day of the meeting, country representatives studied the guidelines proposed by ECLAC, organization that acts as Technical Secretariat of eLAC2010, for the new Regional Plan of Action to 2015.

On the second day, participants agreed on an advanced proposal of the Plan, composed of eight general guidelines and 22 goals.

The main guidelines aim to advance towards the universalization of access to broadband in the region and a transactional and participatory e-government. They also seek to have ICTs serve as inclusive and quality public policy tools in education and health, as well as promote digital innovation and the incorporation of ICTs in small companies.

The proposed plan for eLAC2015 will be submitted to discussion at the Ministerial Conference in Lima. There, delegates will approve a final Regional Plan of Action whose goal is to meet the objectives of the Plan of Action approved in the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, December 2003) and the Tunis Commitment and Programme for the Information Society approved in the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, November 2005). These commitments hope to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

José Clastornik, Executive Director of the Electronic Government and Information Society Agency of the Republic of Uruguay, expressed satisfaction for the arduous and productive work of participants to the meeting, who thanked the host country and ECLAC for their work in the Preparatory Meeting.

More information on the Third Ministerial Conference about the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean is available on the ECLAC webpage.

For enquiries, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section.
Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040.