United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to become Honorary Chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID). The Secretary-General accepted the invitation of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of the Global Alliance, during a meeting with him and other members of the Alliance leadership last week in New York.
The meeting, in which Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, participated, was held to discuss the work of the Global Alliance and its focus on action and result-oriented partnership building in making digital technologies work for development.
“With the Secretary-General’s leadership and name recognition, we are poised to devote our creative energies and entrepreneurial spirit to direct the ICT [information and communications technology] revolution towards development for all,” said Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh. “The Alliance is now in a position to enhance further its relevance, visibility and, ultimately, its development impact,” he added.
The Secretary-General’s acceptance of honorary chairmanship of GAID reaffirmed the direct link between the Secretary-General and the Alliance that was established at the creation of GAID.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh briefed the Secretary-General on current efforts to further raise the profile of GAID and highlighted its activities in promoting the use of information and communications technology to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. He informed the Secretary-General that the Alliance will focus in 2010 on promoting application of information and communications technology for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular, through the creation of a Matrix of ICT Solutions for MDGs Advancement ‑‑ a unique online resource for knowledge sharing, analysis and policymaking that will serve as a tool for development practitioners in their work towards the achievement of the Goals. The Secretary-General welcomed the initiatives spearheaded by the Alliance.
“This year, 2010, projects to be the most important year to date for the Global Alliance, and is also the year of the MDGs, as underscored by the UN Secretary-General,” said Mr. Sha. “The Alliance has to make full use of the knowledge and resources embodied in its vast network in order to generate concrete actions and deliverables,” he added.
Following the meeting with the Secretary-General, on 8 February, the seventh meeting of the GAID Steering Committee was held, with the participation of Under-Secretary-General Sha. Participants focused on the next steps to reaching the objectives of the Alliance and discussed ways in which they can contribute to the successful implementation of the 2010 Action Plan. In addition to Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh and the two Co-chairs ‑‑ Kamran Elahian, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Catalyst Partners, and Ramon Garza, President and Chief Executive Officer of Indigo BrainMedia ‑‑ other Steering Committee members attending the meeting were: Ivo Ivanovski, Minister for Information Society of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Richard Hall of Intel; Pietro Sicuro of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie; Armen Orujyan, President of Athgo International; Huffines of CIVICUS; and by videoconference, A.W. Khan, Assistant Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and representatives of ITU and Ericsson.
The Steering Committee announced the appointment of the new Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Global Alliance, Sergei Kambalov. The former Executive Coordinator, Sarbuland Khan, will continue to assist GAID as Honorary Advisor to the GAID Chairman.
The Global Alliance for ICT and Development was launched in 2006 as a multi-stakeholder platform to put in practice the spirit and vision of the World Summit on the Information Society, and promote the use of information and communications technology to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. It provides all stakeholders a broad forum and a global platform for dialogue and partnership on cross-cutting issues.
For more information, please visit http://www.un-gaid.org, or contact Enrica Murmura of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - GAID, tel,: +1 212 963 5913, e-mail: murmura@un.org.
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