I. The Information Revolution
Our societies, our countries, our region and
our world are being transformed by information and communications
technologies (ICT) and the rapid pace of innovation and change.
While e-commerce and economic applications of ICT are pervasive,
this information revolution is also stimulating dramatic changes
in our democratic and social institutions. New technologies are
breaking down barriers, expanding dialogues and altering the
nature of the relationships between government, the private sector
and civil society. Digital opportunities have set the stage for
new forms of engagement that will require government to reorganize
to respond to the needs of empowered users/citizens and
communities.
These changing relationships are affecting the
social and economic welfare of citizens and their ability to
strengthen and defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. And
these changes are inevitable. The hemisphere must find ways to
take advantage of the great potential offered by ICT in a socially
responsible way. Success will be determined by our collective
ability to manage effectively the impacts of the information
revolution, to provide access to knowledge and to create an
enabling environment for the distribution of the benefits of the
new networked economy. To this end, all citizens, regardless of
age, gender, race, income, education, or ability, should be able
to participate in information networks and use ICT as a mechanism
to further existing initiatives that address disparities and
promote development and integration in the hemisphere.
Our region is one of great diversity: we speak
different languages; levels of democratic and social development
vary; economic circumstances differ throughout the Americas; and,
national levels of technical capabilities present both significant
possibilities and serious challenges. These sharp contrasts are
leading to a widening "digital divide" - a knowledge gap
that could exacerbate other inequalities in the Americas. Despite
these differences, our region has made a collective commitment to
a set of shared values and has a strong determination to share a
prosperous future.
At the First Summit of the Americas in Miami
(1994), and again at the Second Summit in Santiago (1998), the
heads of state and government of the democratic countries of the
region recognized an obligation to promote socially equitable
development and a strong commitment to the mutually supportive
goals of good governance, sustainable economic growth and social
cohesion. At the next Summit in Quebec City in 2001, the leaders
of the hemisphere should examine ways in which information and
communications technologies can be used as a mechanism to connect
the citizens of the Americas and further the commitment to shared
values and collective objectives.
II. Creating New Connections
Connectivity is a means not a end, a tool for
human development, but not the solution to all human problems.
Support for a connectivity agenda does not imply the abandonment
of more fundamental development objectives nor a failure to
recognize that those who struggle to provide themselves and their
families with the necessities of life must be helped to meet their
most urgent needs first. At the same time, the governments and
citizens of the Americas are not confronted with a simple
either/or situation. A commitment to development can and should
encompass not only efforts to meet basic needs, but to ensure that
the benefits of new technologies are more broadly shared and that
opportunities to participate in knowledge-based economies are
expanded. Following a narrower vision could risk denying those on
the margins of our communities the chance to be brought into the
economic, political and social mainstream.
Connectivity provides new ways of accessing and
sharing information, creates partnerships between private and
public sectors and allows for broader avenues of media literacy.
Connectivity could establish a new democratic platform - a vehicle
for democratic participation that uses technology to engage
citizenry in a fundamentally different way.
Government agencies and departments at all
levels have the opportunity to ensure more efficient and more
economical delivery of their services. In turn, ICT can also
promote greater transparency and accountability for governments
through a more direct connection with citizens. These new
connections will increase the interactive capacity of public
agencies, helping to ensure that governments are better able to
provide the services the public needs, and enhancing the potential
for meaningful exchanges with users regarding improvements.
Through the provision of affordable and equitable access to
ICT applications, training, equipment, and a supportive regulatory
environment, governments, their partners and the citizens of the
Americas, can help to promote equal opportunity for meaningful
employment, greater prosperity and social/civic benefits. There
are two important elements to Connectivity: access and content.
The integrative power of ICT to create new
private/public networks will not be able to fully meet the needs
of the citizens of the Americas without complementary development
of the region’s basic systems and services. We must continue to
develop physical infrastructure in the region and, in particular,
support the development of modern telecommunications systems, as
well as education, legal and regulatory infrastructures.
Within the hemisphere, ICT infrastructure
varies from country to country. In those countries in which there
is a limited infrastructure, there may be benefits to
"leapfrogging" directly to new technologies. Countries
not encumbered by existing systems could invest in wireless
technologies rather than implementing terrestrial or land-based
infrastructures. Countries that succeed in harnessing the
potential of the growing information economy could look forward to
removing conventional obstacles to infrastructure development, to
meeting more effectively their developmental goals, such as
health, sanitation, and education, and to benefiting from the
growth of e-commerce and the growing dependence of all sectors of
the global economy on ICT.
There are different approaches to Connectivity.
In determining which approach may be most appropriate for
particular circumstances one must take into account the diverse
languages, histories and cultures within our region and promote
the inclusion of this varied content in our growing community of
knowledge. In a knowledge-based economy, an active approach to the
development of content focussed on topics such as education,
skills training and the development and preservation of
traditional and local knowledge, could help individuals become
more active participants in the fabric of their communities,
rather than passive observers of a technological system.
Connectivity promotes inclusion and addresses
inequalities. The integrative capacity of Connectivity makes it a
natural vehicle for the inclusion of remote, marginalised
communities and the inclusion of traditionally disenfranchised
groups- women, children and youth, indigenous peoples, the
disabled - all potential beneficiaries of greater access to an
information society founded on principles of free flowing
information, mutual tolerance and respect for diversity.
III. A Political Commitment to Connectivity
In conceptual terms, a Connectivity agenda
represents a means of supporting the evolution of the community of
the Americas as a political, economic and social space. The
ability of Connectivity to overcome distance and reduce isolation
should be emphasized in this context as a practical means of
bringing the peoples of a vast hemisphere closer together. In
political terms, hemispheric leaders could endorse the principles
and leading objectives of Connectivity either within the Summit
Declaration or in a separate Declaration on Connectivity for the
Americas.
This statement should first affirm the
existence of a common commitment to democracy, cultural and
social development and economic integration and the role of
Connectivity as a means to achieve these ends. This principle
should begin from the recognition that access to knowledge and
information is fundamental to a democratic and prosperous society.
Furthermore, it should be clearly stated that in increasingly
integrated, inter-connected and inter-dependent political, social
and economic systems, fostering the development of knowledge-based
societies is the key to progress and prosperity.
Second, much of the success of a Connectivity
agenda relies upon establishing effective partnerships among
stakeholders in the information society. We must recognise the
leading role to be played by the private sector. International
financial institutions must also play a strong role in the
development of connectivity by adopting new strategies to help
marginalised groups and regions connect to the world economy, and
by re-orienting investments appropriate to the knowledge-based
economy. In the Declaration, priority should be given to
identifying viable and reliable financial resource bases.
Identified funding for access to ICT must be integrated into the
policy agendas of national and international agencies.
The Declaration should also promote a new
strategy to encourage innovation and technological
advancement. With participation from industry, government and
academia, new partnerships, between rich and poor alike, should be
endorsed and supported. Developing countries need to further their
political commitments to promote science and technology and in
turn, international high-tech firms should be encouraged to
increase their technical cooperation with developing countries and
further develop telecommunications services and local and regional
software applications in the hemisphere.
Fourth, the Declaration should underscore that
leadership by national governments is necessary in providing an
appropriate enabling policy and regulatory environment, (i.e.
fair, transparent and predictable), to stimulate competition,
innovation and investment while balancing the public interest with
private need. To this end, governments must continue to focus on
economic reforms, macro-economic management, provision of
information networks, open environment for telecommunications
systems, strong legal infrastructures, consistent approaches to
taxation of business, including e-business, promotion of on-line
delivery of goods, accessibility of government services to its
citizens and rigorous evaluation of development projects that
focus directly or indirectly on universal access.
Finally, in coordination with a
Declaration/Statement on Connectivity, the leaders will also wish
to consider post-Summit follow-up to Connectivity in the Americas
and the means whereby political commitment is translated into
ongoing action. Follow-up should be based on actions that are
practical and seek to encourage new ideas and new ways of solving
traditional problems, leaping over the barriers that have hindered
human security and economic growth.
IV. Connectivity in the Summit Agenda
Emerging from the Summits of the Americas in
Miami and Santiago, the leaders of the Americas endorsed
Declarations and Plans of Action which stressed the significance
of strengthening our collective commitment to democracy and human
rights, to promoting liberalized trade and economic integration,
and to more fully addressing a social dimension. At the 2001
Summit of the Americas, the leaders of the hemisphere aim to
further these goals and strengthen the commitment to Summit
processes. A Connectivity agenda offers a powerful tool for
supporting ongoing work and new initiatives. The following
examples demonstrate some ways in which our innovative use of ICT
could act as the integrative means to achieving the hemispheric
community’s shared objectives:
Strengthening Democracy
Our collective commitment to democracy, human
rights and rule of law is central to the Summit of the Americas
process and must be the focus of our ongoing efforts to provide a
durable foundation for hemispheric integration. It is people and
their ability to access and generate knowledge that will permit
nations to consolidate democratic processes and institutions and
exercise legitimate political power. For citizens, Connectivity
has a direct relationship to the strengthening of regional and
national democratic infrastructures. A Connectivity agenda could:
- develop national and regional portals for information
exchange/establish an inventory and share best practices on
governance
- promote efficient delivery of government services, increased
interaction between government and citizens and thereby
increased transparency in government services (Government
On-Line)
- develop on-line electoral procedure guidelines/best
practices
- strengthen capacity of institutions concerned with women,
children, indigenous through links and web sites
- provide direction to human security sectors with regards to
ICT and transnational crime (Justice Ministers on cybercrime,
CICAD on money laundering, Inter-American Children’s
Institute on exploitation of children)
- incorporate new technologies in action plan for security
sector
- establish links between civil society levels of local,
national and inter-American processes / on-line information
exchanges
- foster confidence and security building measures, and
regional security transparency.
Creating Prosperity
In the global economy, unequal access to
information and communications technology will increasingly
separate the rich from the poor. Providing equitable and
affordable access to ICT provides the best opportunity for
developing countries to leverage their economic potential and to
integrate into the global knowledge economy. A Connectivity agenda
could:
- promote cooperation on best practices on e-commerce
development
- support Trade Related Technical Assistance programs
- encourage new partnership activities to address economic
disparities and access inequalities - possible activities
could include programmes for specialised research or
assistance in the form of grants, loans and technical
assistance
- strengthen disaster relief and regional climate change
programs through ICT
- sharing of best practices among our labour sectors (Meeting
of Ministers of Labour)
- strengthen existing networks of expertise and build new
resource bases through training programmes and mentoring of
ICT entrepreneurs in the Americas / job creation
- provide capacity to establish new voluntary codes of conduct
for industries affected by ICT (e-commerce,
telecommunications)
- further research on extending telecommunications
infrastructures, wireless technology, satellite technology and
the applied use of this research on developing regions
- increase cooperation in telecommunications infrastructure
development and regulatory activity
- exercise leadership in providing an appropriate policy and
regulatory environment (liberalization of telecommunication
service market) to promote affordable and equitable access
Realizing Human Potential
By actively integrating and interacting with
institutions and organizations locally, nationally and regionally,
Connectivity in the hemisphere will enable the citizens of the
Americas to have the opportunity to become empowered, to
participate in the improvement of their quality of life and to
directly interact with social service providers. Democratic,
social and economic freedoms are intertwined. Supporting economic
freedom will assist the attainment of democratic and social goals.
Connectivity would support skills development and favour the
inclusion of individuals who are unemployed or under-employed. A
Connectivity agenda could:
- promote distance learning
- allow access to the same type of information and enable
those individuals to access skills development tools that may
prove useful in getting them out of the cycle of short-time
employment
- promote and provide opportunities for youth training and
employment in the ICT sector
- integrate ICT training and experience and informal education
systems
- increase cooperation among health sectors - PAHO -
specifically with regards to the use of ICT and disease
prevention and control ( tele-health)
- exploit the potential of ICT for health promotion campaigns
(Tobacco-related illnesses, transmittable diseases)
- employ measures to facilitate the specific needs of women,
children, indigenous and other vulnerable groups by
mainstreaming access to the information society/economy
- engage in work that promotes local skills, traditional
knowledge and cultural diversity
- establish measures to facilitate a critical evaluation is
what is being transmitted via new technologies
- enable citizens to acquire job-related skills, as well as
provide them with tools to facilitate lifelong learning.