ITU advocates ICT for economic recovery

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: ITU Telecom World 2009, which would be held from 5-9 October in Geneva, would look into ICTs' role in global economic recovery and stimulating future investment and growth.

The ITU Telecom board of directors, comprising chairmen and CEOs from entities such as Bharti Enterprises, China Mobile, CNBC Europe, GSMA Association, Hutchison Telecommunications, Novare Technologies, NTT DoCoMo, Orange UK, Orascom, QTel, the South African Development Bank, Swisscom, and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), met in Barcelona last week and said that the ITU would be a catalyst in shaping the agenda for global economic recovery and development. The board also decided that ITU Telecom World would be held in Geneva in 2011 to mark its 40th anniversary.

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, said: "It is vital that we use opportunities such as ITU Telecom World 2009 inorder to find a way forward for the ICT industry that will translate challenges into real and workable solutions. Information and communication technologies are increasingly critical for global development and human well-being. We must not allow today's economic downturn to slow progress in providing widespread access to these essential tools."

Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General, ITU, said: "ITU Telecom World 2009 will be he right time to bring together all the key players in government and the ICT industry. We will be in a better position to assess the effects on industry and establish both how to resuscitate those sectors that need it as well as to focus on how ICTs can be a catalyst for recovery. The ICT sector has been the powerhouse of the global economy in terms of GDP. Investment in ICTs makes as much sense now as it did in building the physical infrastructure of roads and railways during the great depression of the 1930s."