PrepCom 1
Subcommittee 2:
content and themes
4 July 2002
Statement by
Petru Dumitriu, delegation of Romania
1.
Romania associated itself with the statement of the European Union and
will only share with you some of its own thinking, as host of the
forthcoming Pan-European Regional Preparatory Conference.
2. We
are grateful to the Executive Secretariat for the valuable perspectives
and ideas contained into the document on the proposed themes of the
Summit. We appreciate also the rich amount of complementary documents that
were posted on the ITU web-side, which reflect prior thinking and action
and enable us not to start from scratch.
We see
the document as a very useful attempt to organize such a vast notion as
the Information Society. I believe that, however careful one might be in
streamlining the themes, the end result will still be improvable.
As a host country of a regional Conference, we are facing a similar
challenge in defining clear themes for discussion that are to be
concomitantly, comprehensive and targeted.
3. We
need indeed criteria in order to organize the themes for discussion
around strict directions, without affecting the richness and potential of
the conceptual material. For us the most relevant criteria should be:
§
the extent to which the themes might lead to concrete
recommendations for policies, partnerships and actions;
§
the extent to which they open the door for substantial contributions
and commitments from the business community and the civil society.
When we
say business community, we mean both national small and medium sized
enterprises that must be
given incentives to become significant actors in the Information Society,
and transnational companies, which may become partners in sharing
social responsibilities.
4. In order to identify the most
important themes we first used the tools offered in the document the
Executive Secretariat has proposed to us, which were the three cross-sectoral
vectors: vision, access, and applications.
Following further reflection and
consultations with other Member Countries and partners actors, we found
that the access and applications vectors are a part of what may be called
an enabling environment, which should include better delineation of
four directions to be followed to give substance to a possible plan of
action:
§
strategies (at national, regional and global level),
§
regulatory framework and related domestic legislation,
§
improving access and connectivity,
§
enriching applications and content.
5. The
domains to be covered are broadly defined according to thinking and
incipient practice at regional level, respectively e-government,
e-learning and e-inclusion. We also believe that any overall
assessment of policies and action should try to encompass and define the
consequences in terms of the quality of life in the information society.
6. At
this last point, we operate with a crucial criterion for judging not only
the themes, but also the impact of the Information Society: the positive consequences
on daily lives of people,
-
not only in some parts of, but all around the world,
-
not on the elites exclusively, but on the ordinary people.
That is
a way to say that going further and deeper in a world so much influenced
by the information and communications technologies does not exclude risks
and does not always translate into exclusively positive impact. Our vision
on the future should continue to be based on a human centred
development.
7. Certainly, the quality of
life in the Information Society is in itself a complex issue. We see
sub-items like
·
combating cyber-delinquency in all its aspects,
·
promoting Internet ethics,
·
protecting privacy,
·
enhancing environmental monitoring and energy efficiency,
organizing intelligent transport systems,
·
developing social and educational services,
·
stimulating multi-cultural emphasis and local content
are relevant to the quality of
life.
As it was emphasized in numerous
interventions in the plenary sessions there is also an all-encompassing
connection between the potential of the Information Society and the need
for more democratic and participatory ways of governance.
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