Priorities Set for New Plan of Action
for the Information Society

Photo: Flickr, Pierre Pouliquin

The III Ministerial Conference on the Information Society to be held in Lima on 21-23 November will define a new plan of action to advance towards the information society in the region over the next five years.

In the preparatory meeting to the III Ministerial Conference to be held in late September in Montevideo, Uruguay, ECLAC will submit a proposal partially based on the results of a recent survey on the priorities of the digital agenda for the region.

This proposal will be discussed by the member countries of the Regional Plan of Action eLAC2010, a regional strategy in stages to advance in the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) as instruments of economic development and social inclusion.

The information society implies the use of ICTs in economic activity and social and productive processes, allowing citizens and the public and private sectors to obtain and share information through these technologies.

During this past June and July, ECLAC consulted experts and leaders working for the development of ICTs in the region about what they consider should be the priorities of the new Regional Plan of Action through 2015 (eLAC2015).

Over 800 people responded the online survey and 48 public, private, international and civil society organizations helped disseminate it. It was conducted through a project called @LIS2 and co-financed by the European Union.

The universalization of broadband at accessible prices and greater velocity, the incorporation of ICTs in education and the consolidation of e-government were the most relevant issues resulting from the poll.

Other priorities were the establishment of a legal framework to facilitate the full development of the information society, the use of ICTs in public health systems, competitiveness for micro, small and medium enterprises, the development of digital contents and services and fomenting innovation in ICT-intensive industries.

The survey asked about 10 strategic lines of action for the development of the information society, defined on the basis of the level of progress in the access and use of ICTs in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as on previous consultations and consensus with countries.

The ultimate goal is to create a Regional Plan of Action eLAC2015 that may meet the objectives of the Plan of Action approved in the first and second phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005). These commitments hope to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

In the preparatory meeting in Montevideo, ECLAC, as Technical Secretariat of eLAC2010, will present, in addition to the proposal for the new Plan eLAC2015, the results of the public survey, the monitoring of the region’s achievements in meeting the plan’s targets and reports on the activities of the Working Groups.

These documents will be discussed by delegates from every country in the region. Representatives of civil society and the private sector will also have an opportunity to express their points of view.

The results of the survey will be available soon on the webpage of ECLAC’s Information Society Programme.

*by the Information Society Programme of ECLAC