ISSUE 2

Message from the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, H.E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku

The Commonwealth has increasingly recognised the importance of Information and Communication Technologies to development in its member countries and the role that networks and international centres could play in promoting good practice and assisting in the transfer of skills. Indeed, Commonwealth Heads of Government, meeting in Auckland, New Zealand in November 1995, specifically welcomed the setting up of COMNET-IT as the Commonwealth forum for good practice in IT application. Since then, despite inevitable funding and resource limitations, COMNET-IT has made satisfying progress. In all this, a debt of gratitude is owed to Malta, whose Government demonstrated characteristic energy and commitment in agreeing to provide a home for the foundation and to assist COMNET-IT in its growth.

Clearly, there is no area of our lives which can remain insulated from the impact of Information and Communication Technologies - but there is a danger that the present inequalities between the industrialised and developing worlds may be exacerbated by a lack of IT skills and hardware in developing countries. That is why I applaud COMNET-IT for its work, in the expectation that the services it can offer will be of increasing value to all those who appreciate the dynamic effect that the new technologies can have in advancing socio-economic development throughout the Commonwealth.