Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. We would like to thank the Secretary-General for the report contained in document A/64/64-E/2009/10, on progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) outcomes at the regional and international levels, which will inform our deliberations on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development.

Mr. Chairman,

Information and communication technology holds tremendous potential for eradication of poverty and promotion of socio-economic development, but the technological divide between developing and developed countries remains large, despite significant advances in the development of broad aspects of new technologies. For the majority of the poor, the developmental promise of science and technology including information and communication technologies remains un-fulfilled. Creating links between knowledge generation and development is one of the greatest challenges facing the developing countries.

Mr. Chairman,

The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) held to address the challenge of the digital divide confronting the developing countries, although, it did not create enough momentum, to evaluate the progress on the global partnership for development, and in particular meeting the target of making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies in support of development, which is severely lacking. The international community should enhance the efforts required to harness the power of technology in support of the MDGs, and to fully implement the outcomes of WSIS.

Mr. Chairman,

We acknowledge that (ICTs) is a powerful tool for socio-economic development. It can offer many opportunities to the disadvantaged sectors of society. Importantly, proper use of ICT can assist in the eradication of poverty and to attain the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. Greater emphasis is therefore needed on transfer of such technologies to developing countries, as well as the development and dissemination of such technologies within developing countries. G77 and China would like to stress that ICT's are vital to developing countries' participation in the global economy and for helping to reap some of the benefits of globalization. In its resolution A/62/201 on science and technology for development, the General Assembly called for "continued collaboration between United Nations entities and other international organizations, civil society and the private sector in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, with a view to putting the potential of information and communications technologies at the service of development through policy research on the digital divide and on new challenges of the information society, as well as technical assistance activities, involving multi-stakeholder partnerships." This underscores a key part of the role of the wider UN System.

Mr. Chairman,

We urge the UN System and the international community to take concrete actions in facilitate monitoring the implementation of WSIS outcomes, as well as other inter-governmentally agreed mandates on ICTs. These actions should include, inter alia, providing more support to the Global Digital Solidarity Fund, established within the context of the WSIS which is the only existing financing mechanism aimed at contributing to reduce the digital divide. Further, more emphasis should be placed on reducing the cost of communication technologies, including the cost of broadband connections and on capacity-building for greater use and application so as to support countries efforts to increase access to such technologies and to be able to adopt these technologies to meet local needs.

In conclusion, we insure that  strong development orientation of the outcome of the WSIS remains very relevant to the international community's efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs, and this is the context within which monitoring and implementation should be pursued. We remain hopeful that the full and effective implementation of both the Geneva and Tunis phases of the WSIS will lead to developing countries benefiting fully from ICTs. We therefore urge the UN System to focus on monitoring progress and follow-up in particular the transfer of technology to facilitate a development oriented information society.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.