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Bridging digital divide needed to tackle poverty: Pandey

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 14: Minister for Information and Communication Ramesh Nath Pandey has said Nepal has tried its best towards improving connectivity, increasing access to communication facilities and developing the IT. Skills among the general populace.

Addressing the World Summit on Information Society being held in Japanese capital Tokyo today he said lack of basic economic and social infrastructure like electricity, telecommunications and education only hinder the noble undertaking.

The U.N. resolution to hold the World Summit on the Information Society has been instrumental in initiating discussion on this very important subject both at the regional and global level, he said.
However, bridging the digital divide, although desirable, is indeed an onerous task for a poor and a resource-less country like Nepal, he added.

Minister Pandey said while, we sincerely appreciate the efforts of the government of Japan in bringing together Minister and representatives from the Asia-Pacific region towards achieving the common goal of utilising the immense opportunities offered by the information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the improvement in the life of all citizens of this vast region, arriving at a consensus to a common resolution from among this vast assembly of members from the developed, developing and the least developed nations may seem to be a formidable task.

Nevertheless, with the good judgement and the leadership of the chair and the total commitment of all towards harnessing the prospects of the ICT, I am confident that we shall succeed, he said.
"Having recognised the importance of telecommunications as increasingly essential for overall economic development of the country, His Majesty's Government of Nepal enacted the Telecommunication Act in 1997," he said.

Minister informed that an independent Nepal Telecommunication Authority was established and a progressive telecommunications policy was brought out in September 1999.

Pandey said consequently, private sector participation has been promoted in almost all market segments to provide the general people qualitative telecommunication services at competitive rates.
"Various donor countries and international institutions have supported us in our effort. Furthermore, a national I.T. Policy was adopted in the year 2000, an I.T. Centre was established which has initiated various steps including manpower training and a cyber-law too has been drafted that awaits approval from the Parliament."

Government Ministries and departments have started their websites disseminating important information, development plans and decisions to the people, he said.

"Despite these consistent efforts, we have only been able to achieve a teledensity of 14.56 in urban and 0.125 in rural areas, cellular penetration of 0.1, personal computer penetration of an estimated one hundred thousand computer sets and television viewership covering 44 per cent of the Kingdom's population."

He said in least developed countries like Nepal, access to information is often limited by infrastructure development. Hence, it would be useful for the second preparatory committee to discuss ways for the creation of new infrastructure financing mechanisms, content issues, and importance of making ICTS beneficial for women, children youth and how the digital divide can be met.

Minister Pandey said "all of us recognise that bridging the digital divide is not an end in itself, but could be a powerful tool towards eradicating poverty and raising the living standards of the poor and the deprived."

"Developing countries like Nepal in fact live simultaneously in various ages. Bridging the divide means actually working towards bridging the disparity between a villager who has to walk a full day from his village to make a telephone call and who calls the other side of the world from his bedroom" he said.
"I believe therefore, that it would be a good idea for the LDCs to work together and come up with a plan that could be discussed at length at the WSIS in December 2003."

The Information and Communication Minister said at this point, I would like to put on record my appreciation of the work being carried out by the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) in co-ordinating the needs and goals of the countries of the Asia and Pacific in creating an Information Society conducive to the region, the ITU, various U.N. Agencies and International Organisations, the G-8 dot force established by the Okinawa Charter all of which have made their resources available to bridge the digital divide so as to enable all citizens of the world make use of the ICT to improve their lifestyles also merit our sincere thanks and admiration.

Pandey also thanked the government of Japan for organising the conference in order to bring together views of all the countries in the region and arrive at a common proposal.

He also thanked the government of Japan for the assistance provided for the welfare of the people of Nepal.

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