(15 November 2010) Government officials and representatives of international agencies and civil society will gather from 21-23 November in Lima, Peru for the Third Ministerial Conference on the Information Society of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In this forum, ECLAC member countries will approve a new regional plan of action called eLAC2015, which conceives information and communications technologies (ICTs) as tools for development with more innovation and equality.
The conference will be inaugurated on Monday, 22 November at 9 a.m. by the President of Peru, Alan García Pérez, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, the President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, José Antonio Chang, the Secretary General of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), Adalid Contreras, and other government officials from the region.
The main guidelines of the new proposed eLAC2015 plan, in which ECLAC acts as technical secretariat, aim at the universalization of high quality broadband access in the region and the incorporation of ICTs in productive activities, public services, education and health.
During the conference, ECLAC will present three documents that examine the progress made in the region, suggesting policies so that the use of ICTs may spur economic growth and increase equality.
The first document, ICT for growth and equality: renewing strategies for the information society, examines the potential of ICTs to advance toward a development model with more innovation and equality in the region and offers a detailed analysis of the role of public policies for the information society.
The second one, Speeding Up the Digital Revolution: Broadband for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasizes the urgent need to hasten the rate of development of infrastructure, applications and contents so broadband may be incorporated effectively in productive and social activities.
The third publication, Monitoring of the eLAC2010 Plan: Advances and challenges of the information society in Latin America and the Caribbean, monitors the implementation of the regional plan of action from 2008-2010. It provides information on compliance of its goals in education, infrastructure and access, health, public management, productive sector, policy instruments and strategies.
The media is welcome to participate in this conference,
which will be held in the Sheraton Hotel in Lima.
For more information and online registration of participants, see the Conference website.
For press-related inquiries, contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section.
Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040.
