THE CYBER SUMMIT DEBATE ON THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ON THE OCCASION OF THE WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

A high level debate by global leaders from the United Nations, governments, private sector and civil society organizations focusing specifically and speaking openly on key international issues arising from information and communication technologies in relation to human development was held on 11 December 2003 during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva.

UNDP Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP), with the active support of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) hopes that the one hour television debate will assist in informing the public internationally about the realities and complexities of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) on a global context, and to realise the potential of environmentally sound development in improving lives and raising the status of poor and disadvantaged groups.

The debate featured a distinguished Panel including UNDP's Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and H.E. Jose Maria Figueres Olsen, former President of Costa Rica and UN ICT Task Force Chairman. The debate itself took a lead from the issues emerging from the WSIS PrepComs and at the WSIS itself, as well as from WSIS Round-tables and other side events. The debate lasted 60 minutes and was broadcast / video streamed live on the Internet. The TV broadcast version was broadcast four times on BBC World TV and BBC News 24 on December 13-14th 2003 to 267 million homes and a million hotels in 200 countries and territories.

The debate was part of the Communicating for Change initiative by UNDP-APDIP that is an international multi-media package that combines the power of television, radio, the World Wide Web, and the printed word. It seeks to create a global dialogue, in which the profile of issues arising from information and communication technologies in relation to the Millennium Development Goals is raised. Click here for more details.

Panelists (PDF, 97kb).