ITU urged to maximise resources

Communications Minister Censu Galea last week told the International Telecommunications Union Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, that if the ITU wanted to succeed in its daunting challenge of connecting the world by 2015 it must continue with the trend to maximise on all potential and effective resources.

"In this regard the Commonwealth is a shining example, which constitutes a meaningful partner, more importantly after the Commonwealth Heads of Government convened at the Malta Summit," he said.

"Less than a year ago and just a week after the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) in Tunis, the Commonwealth Heads of Government gave distinct recognition to ICTs, when they issued the Malta declaration entitled 'Networking the Commonwealth for Development', in which the report 'Commonwealth Action Programme for the Digital Divide' (CAPDD), now renamed 'Commonwealth Connects' was endorsed and recognised as the 'roadmap' to address the Commonwealth priorities."

Mr Galea said the new mandate calls for the setting up of a Special Fund to assist projects falling into five focus areas. These include the development of policy and regulatory capacity, the modernisation of education and skills development, entrepreneurship for wealth creation and poverty reduction, the promotion of local access and connectivity and the strengthening of local and regional networks.

The CAPDD started its journey in Nigeria in 2003 as a Pan-Commonwealth initiative to assist less developed countries to bridge the digital divide. Malta, India and Mozambique have already made significant contributions to the special fund and not less than 60 projects are being evaluated for the first round of funding.

"It was in the light of these developments that on behalf of my Government, currently the chair of CHOGM, and in conjunction with the Commonwealth/ITU Group and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) then chaired also by Malta, I addressed the ITU World Telecommunications Development Conference 2006 in Doha, and tabled a resolution," he said.

This specified the will of a substantial number of Commonwealth countries, 53 of which are members of the ITU, and requested the ITU secretary general to assume the onus to submit the Malta CHOGM declaration, which not only supported the Digital Solidarity Fund as endorsed by WSIS but reiterated their beliefs in the deliberations of WSIS and the 'Commonwealth Action Programme for the Digital Divide' to last week's ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, on the premise that the ITU would ensure harmonisation and coordination between the three sectors of the union and the Commonwealth.

"I am confident that in the course of this Plenipotentiary Conference other distinguished heads of delegations will be giving prominence to these developments," Mr Galea said.

He also referred to the development of ICTs and the telecommunications sector in particular, Malta's contribution over the years to the ITU and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation's initiative to use Malta's Tsunami Relief Fund for the implementation of a Rural Teleco-op project in Sri Lanka, which should address the perennial problem of rural access in that country, as it served to assist those families hit with the 2004 Tsunami tragedy.

"The concept, executed in Sri Lanka, is expected to be scaled to become a Pan Commonwealth programme giving the Commonwealth and the CTO the recognition as the knowledge centres on rural communications," Mr Galea said.

"My country's size, topography and advanced infrastructure mean that we are an ideal incubator for new applications. Malta has long aspired to be a hub for Euro-Med activity and an ICT Centre of Excellence and we are exceptionally positioned to turn this vision into a reality."