ELAC to Present Advances in the use of Broadband and Information and Communications Technologies at Ministerial Conference

Photo: stevendj, Flickr

The Third Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place in Lima, Peru on 21- 23 November 2010.

Three new ECLAC publications dealing with the dynamics of broadband penetration in the region and policy proposals for universalizing its access, a comprehensive model of public policies for the information society and an analysis of the progress made in implementing the regional plan of action 2008-2010 will be presented during the Third Ministerial Conference on the Information Society of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this forum, to be held 21-23 November in Lima, Peru, government officials and representatives of international organizations and civil society will approve a new Regional Plan of Action called eLAC2015, which conceives information and communications technologies (ICTs) as tools for a more innovative and equal development.

During the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Third Ministerial Conference, which took place in September in  Montevideo, Uruguay, representatives of 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries studied the guidelines proposed by ECLAC – acting as Technical Secretariat of eLAC2010 - for this new Regional Plan of Action for 2015.

The meeting was inaugurated by the Secretary of the Presidency of Uruguay, Alberto Breccia, and the Director of ECLAC’s Production, Productivity and Management Division, Mario Cimoli.

After this dialogue among nations, the plan was defined with eight broad guidelines and 22 goals. The main guidelines aim at the universalization of broadband access and for ICTs to serve as tools for more inclusive and quality education and health services. They also seek to promote digital innovation and the use of ICTs in small companies.

Cimoli highlighted the success of the preparatory meeting, describing it as positive for country dialogue and building consensus to encourage a deeper understanding and need for policies that promote the information society at a regional level. He also emphasized that ICTs are a detonator for growth with equality and the promotion of regional integration.

The Regional Plan of Action eLAC2015 to be approved in the conference in Lima also seeks to achieve compliance of the goals set in the Plan of Action approved in the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, December 2003) and the Commitment and Programme for the Information Society approved during the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, November 2005), so as to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015.

More information on the Third Ministerial Conference, including online registration for participants, is available on the eLAC2015 website: http://www.cepal.org/elac2015/.