ISSUE 6

Kofi Annan Urges High-Tech Aid for Poor Countries

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has proposed that the United Nations take the lead in bringing advanced technology to poor nations, which could enable them to skip some traditional stages of development at a surprisingly low cost.

In a report intended to set the agenda for a millennium assembly in early September to which all the world’s leaders are invited, Mr. Annan announced plans to create a new international voluntary corps, the United Nations Information Technology Service, to train groups in developing countries to use the Internet. He also proposed an Internet health network for 10,000 locations in poor nations to give hospitals and clinics access to the latest medical information.

Mr. Annan took a step out of the traditional limits of United Nations action when he gave his backing to a leading role for private enterprise, to the discomfort of a number of member nations that strongly oppose growing links towards global business and non-governmental organisations, which often disagree with government policies. Much of the heavy lifting will be done by private investment, and partnerships with philanthropic foundations will also be very important, Mr. Annan said which he suggested would make the United Nations more relevant to a new age. Probably the best ideas will come from outside government.

The Secretary General had a warning for governments that try to block or roll back the information age they are depriving their nations, their people of great opportunity by trying to limit access to these technologies - and besides, they are going to fail, so they shouldn't waste resources trying.

In a world where more than a fifth of the population exists on a dollar a day or less and foreign aid has dropped, information technology may be a cost-cutting device rather than an extravagance, Mr. Annan said at his news conference. It can be used without having vast amounts of hardware or financial capital. What you need above all is brains, which are the one common commodity equally distributed among the world's people. So for a relatively small investment - in education for example - we can bring all kinds of information in reach of poor people, enabling poor countries to leapfrog some of the long and painful stages of development that others have had to go through.