Madame President,
Mr Chairperson,
My Fellow Speakers,
Dear Colleagues and Friends
It is a great honour and privilege for me to address this opening session of the IST2004 Conference. I wish to express my warm appreciation to the European Commission for this kind invitation. The impact and relevance of IST2004 extend far beyond Europe's borders, including to my country South Africa.
To grow and prosper in today's global information society, we require not only inclusive societal participation, but also international partnerships. The theme for IST2004, "Participate in Your Future", which embraces a strong emphasis on international collaboration, is therefore most appropriate.
In my intervention this morning I will focus on international partnership. I would specifically like to point to the close historical links between Europe and most of the developing world, which should provide the foundation for concerted information society partnerships.
In Europe, information and communications technologies over the past decades dramatically improved access to information and communication, which in turn broke down barriers to knowledge and participation. There is enormous potential for ICTs to be deployed in a similar role in developing countries, to effect a decisive improvement in their growth and development trajectories.
Africa's flagship growth and development initiative, the NEPAD, is, thus, undertaking concerted efforts to address the continent's poor ICT infrastructure, its weak policy and regulatory frameworks, its human resource needs and lack of local-content software.
The opportunities for partnership with Europe in this regard, for example in areas such as e-health, e-agriculture, e-education or e-government, are legion. I urge all IST2004 participants to engage with these partnership opportunities.
I specifically urge research and technology organizations in Europe to exploit the unique opportunities provided by the Sixth Framework Programme to advance collaboration with partners in the developing world.
Within this context, I am proud to announce that South Africa's recent connection to the high-speed Geant research network will significantly facilitate collaboration between South African researchers and their European counterparts.
In conclusion, I wish to emphasise the mutually beneficial nature of the proposed partnership. The opportunities, challenges and threats of the 21st Century Information Society are global. They will only be adequately addressed through globally comprehensive partnerships, which span geographic, political and economic divides.
The title chosen for our session this morning: "IST the Big Picture", is indeed a most appropriate one. The big picture I leave you with this morning is one of a world where we recognize that the well-being of all of its peoples is closely interconnected. No society is able to enjoy safety and prosperity in isolation from the global challenges facing our planet. International collaboration and partnership is therefore not only useful but indeed imperative.
Information society technologies provide us with unique instruments to participate in our future, as the theme of this Conference recommends. They can, however, through the formation of strategic and global partnerships also assist our world's transition to a new inclusive, equitable and sustainable information society. Our goal should be to create a global information society, for a safer and more prosperous future for all on our planet.
I look forward in anticipation to the various discussions and debates at IST2004 advancing our progress towards this objective.
I thank you.
