a) National e-strategies should be made an integral part of national development
plans, including Poverty Reduction Strategies.
b) ICTs should be fully mainstreamed into strategies for Official Development
Assistance (ODA) through more effective donor information-sharing and coordination,
and through analysis and sharing of best practices and lessons learned from
experience with ICT for development programmes.
a) All countries and international organizations should act to create conditions
conducive to increasing the availability and effective mobilization of resources for
financing development as elaborated in the Monterrey Consensus.
b) Developed countries should make concrete efforts to
fulfill their international
commitments to financing development including the Monterrey Consensus,
in which developed countries that have not done so are urged to make concrete
efforts towards the target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) as ODA
to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of GNP of developed countries to
least developed countries.
c) For those developing countries facing unsustainable debt burdens,
we welcome
initiatives that have been undertaken to reduce outstanding indebtedness and
invite further national and international measures in that regard, including, as
appropriate, debt cancellation and other arrangements. Particular attention should
be given to enhancing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. These initiatives
would release more resources that may be used for financing ICT for development
projects.
d) Recognizing the potential of ICT for development,
we furthermore advocate:
i. developing countries to increase their efforts to attract major private national
and foreign investments for ICTs through the creation of a transparent, stable
and predictable enabling investment environment;
ii. developed countries and international financial organizations to be responsive
to the strategies and priorities of ICTs for development, mainstream ICTs in
their work programmes, and assist developing countries and countries with
economies in transition to prepare and implement their national e-strategies.
Based on the priorities of national development plans and implementation of
the above commitments, developed countries should increase their efforts to
provide more financial resources to developing countries in harnessing ICTs for
development;
iii. the private sector to contribute to the implementation of this Digital Solidarity
Agenda.
e) In our efforts to bridge the digital divide,
we should promote, within our
development cooperation, technical and financial assistance directed towards
national and regional capacity building, technology transfer on mutually agreed
terms, cooperation in R&D programmes and exchange of know-how.
f) While all existing financial mechanisms should be fully exploited, a thorough
review of their adequacy in meeting the challenges of ICT for development should
be completed by the end of December 2004. This review shall be conducted by a
Task Force under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and
submitted for consideration to the second phase of this Summit. Based on the
conclusion of the review, improvements and innovations of financing mechanisms
will be considered including the effectiveness, the feasibility and the creation of a
voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund, as mentioned in the Declaration of Principles.
g) Countries should consider establishing national mechanisms to achieve universal
access in both underserved rural and urban areas, in order to bridge the digital
divide.
