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| Thursday, 4 June 2009, 15:25 HKT/SGT | |
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Source: WITSA | |
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VIENNA, AUSTRIA, June 4, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) joined the Strategy Council of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID) for a two-year term ending in April 2011.
WITSA's Secretary General, Dr. James H. Poisant has been appointed as a member of the Strategy Council of the UNDESA-GAID that comprises 74 members including 30 members representing Governments, 15 members from the private sector, 17 members from civil society, and 12 members representing international organizations.
"As the leading voice of the global ICT industry with industry association members from 69 countries and economies, WITSA is privileged to be one of the twelve international organizations represented in the Strategy Council," said Dr. Poisant.
"This appointment provides us with a platform to contribute and strengthen WITSAs advocacy role in the development of an action-oriented ICT policy, while promoting the scalability, replicability and sustainability of the activities of the UNDESA-GAID through multi-stakeholder effort," added Dr. Poisant.
WITSA Chairman Dato' Dan E Khoo welcomed the collaboration and praised the UNDESA-GAID for promoting multi-stakeholder partnerships to improve coordination and enhance the impact of the alliance.
"This new relationship coincides with one of WITSA's strategic goals to further expand and enhance our relationships with both the private sector and government and to seek greater collaboration with internationally-recognized global organizations like the United Nations," said Khoo.
"Government and the private sector should work in concert to establish frameworks and programs that spur the growth of the ICT industry and accelerate the use of technologies across all economic sectors and society. We are pleased to have representatives from international organizations like WITSA contributing strong private sector dynamism and energy towards the success of GAID," commented Sarbuland Khan, Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance.
"While the current world economic and financial crisis seems to make it more difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the continuing resilience of the ICT sector suggests that ICT and innovation can open strategic opportunities to meet key global challenges such as poverty eradication, the economic recession and climate change. In the coming year UNDESA GAID will focus on these global issues, as well as on governance and gender, and mainstream them in the context of the broader United Nations Development Agenda," added Sarbuland Khan.
About UNDESA-GAID
The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) was launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006 to contribute to transforming the spirit and vision of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) into action and promoting the use of ICTs for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It does so by providing an inclusive, multi-stakeholder global forum and platform for cross-sectoral policy dialogue and by enabling and catalyzing multi-stakeholder partnerships for action under the GAID umbrella.
GAID also provides multi-stakeholder input to intergovernmental bodies, including the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Commission for Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). Largely a network of networks, GAID does not have any operational or implementing role. The Chairmanship of the Alliance is presently held by Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation. The Alliance is guided by two multi-stakeholder bodies, the Steering Committee and the Strategy Council. Please see http://www.un-gaid.org for more information.
Contact:
Dr. James H Poisant
Email: jpoisant@witsa.org
Tel: +1-703-728-4547
Topic: Corporate Announcement
Source: WITSA
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