Tell us something about your field that most people outside that area wouldn’t expect?

With the 69th UN General Assembly taking place in NY this week, everyone is focusing on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Hear about the role of ICTs in this:

Tell us something about your field that most people outside that area wouldn’t expect?

“Nowadays we have become so used to technologies that we don’t think about it until we are without it. Just like breathing. The least developed countries in 2010 in the Istanbul Plan of Action recognized ICTs as an infrastructure just as important to them as water, transportation and power. Realistic or not, they have set a goal of having universal access to the internet by 2020 in the least developed countries.”

And how is the role of ICTs in the future of global development?

“Earlier this year, after long negotiations, member states decided to hold a high level meeting for 2 days in New York in December 2015 that is open to all member states. The meeting has particularly strong support from the G77. This 10 year review of WSIS ( a UN world summit on the information society). It is very important for all of us who have been involved in the WSIS process since its inception in 1998. We hope that this review, even though it comes after the SDG summit which makes it ‘tricky’ to have a greater impact on the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals that will replace the MDG - Millennium Development Goals after 2015), will also be a good opportunity to show how information and communication technologies can help in the implementation of the sustainable development goals.”