1. Introduction

The Council

1.1    recognises that ICTs offer both challenges and promises for political, social, economic and environmental development and this is nowhere more apparent than in the world's poorest countries. ICTs can make a significant contribution to poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals. Our aim should be make ICTs available to the broadest possible range of people at affordable prices so that the poor can benefit from them.

1.2    shares the G8 Digital Opportunity Task (DOT) Force conclusion that, 'if wisely applied, ICT offer enormous opportunities to decrease social and economic inequalities and to support sustainable local wealth creation, thus helping achieve the broader development goals'. On the other hand, if mis-applied or not applied, 'ICTs can result in the marginalisation of the poor and unconnected, thus adding a digital divide to the existing social and economic one'.

1.3    acknowledges that, as with other development challenges, the decision to embrace these new opportunities belongs to developing countries themselves and the relevant stakeholders, including the local communities. Ownership by them is indispensable. For its part the international community can play a catalytic role, by pointing to the potential benefits of new policies and assisting interested countries in designing and implementing appropriate policies in line with their situation and priorities.

1.4    recognises efforts launched by the international community to address the ICT and development agenda - notably the G8 DOT Force, the UN ICT Task Force, the International Conference on E-Governement, the forthcoming World Summit on Information Society; they demonstrate the willingness among donors, multilateral organisations, the private sector and NGOs to highlight the ICT and development agenda.

1.5    welcomes the Commission Communication on ‘Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in development, the role of ICTs in EC Development Policy’, as well as the European Parliament’s and ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly’s resolutions on ICT and development.

2. The Council therefore recommends the following principles and priority actions:

2.1     the principal aim of the EU support for ICT in development is to reduce poverty and to contribute to reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

2.2     the Commission should play an active role in the field of ICT and development within the context of the Joint Council and Commission declaration on EC development policy adopted on 10^th November 2000, and notably within the priority areas and cross-cutting themes. ICTs are to be considered as part and parcel of an overall development strategy and the policy dialogue with beneficiary countries and regions. A more systematic approach should be introduced for the use of ICTs in Community development projects and programmes.

2.3     the EC, in coordination with other international actors, should provide support to ICTs in particular within the priority area of institutional capacity building. Viable ICT strategies imply: broad and interlinked policies in many areas, such as telecommunications, e.commerce, health, education, government affairs financial services; regulatory frameworks that favour an open and competitive environment, while ensuring affordable access for the poorest segments of the population, the creation or strengthening of autonomous regulatory authorities; the improvement of human resources in ICT skills. ICTs applied to the re-definition of the role of the State (e.government) can also contribute to the improvement of government services and increase the efficiency and transparency of National and Local Authorities. Participation by developing countries in international discussions and decisions on regulatory issues should be encouraged and supported.

2.4     the EC should provide support and assistance to regional integration organisations that wish to develop common rules on telecommunications and e-commerce regulations, based upon the work of international bodies. E-commerce is becoming a necessary component for the insertion into the world economy and regional regulatory convergence can help create a level-playing field.

2.5     the EC should incorporate appropriate use of ICTs in its support to the health and education sectors. If properly integrated into health and education systems, ICTs can become a cost-effective way of delivering the Millennium Development Goals.

2.6     the EC welcomes the benefits of open-source software and promotes the use and development of local content, in order to favour cost-effective solutions for low-income countries, local content and cultural diversity.

2.7     the gender aspect should be included in EC ICT policies and programmes, in order to ensure that particularly women benefit from new opportunities arising from ICTs; it is imperative that young girls should reap the full benefit of the use of ICTs.

3. As regards "Process", the Council stresses that:

3.1     the status of ICT policies and actions should be considered in the context of Country and Regional Strategy Papers.

3.2     specific ICT activities decided in the context of a Country and Regional Strategy Papers should be supported in the context of multi-stakeholder participatory processes so as to ensure civil society participation and local ownership.

3.3     the Commission and Member States should co-operate proactively in their ICT operational support in the context of Country and Regional Strategies, and work in partnership, where appropriate, with other donors and organisations, the business community, (encouraging private/public partnership) development NGOs and civil society

3.4     the Commission should make more active use of its thematic budget lines, such as those concerning NGO co-financing and democracy and human rights, to encourage, within their specific remits, the use of ICT tools by civil society actors in developing countries.

3.5     it is ready to engage in a dialogue with the ACP, in the context of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, at their initiative, as well as with Africa namely in the context of the New Partnership for African Development-NEPAD; it furthermore welcomes the region-to-region dialogue on ICT policies and programs between the EU and Asia, the Mediterranean and Latin America.

3.6     the Commission should, work with Member States and their experts, sharing their experiences and lessons learned in order to move forward in coordination with existing bilateral and multilateral programmes. ICT and development is a relatively new area of co-operation and more needs to be known on what actually works and why. To this end, the Commission is requested to present an evaluation of the state of play in this area in its annual report on external assistance.

4. Concerning International Initiatives, the Council notes

4.1     the existence of several international initiatives working to address the international digital divide as a welcome effort to bring the opportunities offered by the new technologies to the poor and invites the Commission and Member States to collaborate in these various fora within the spirit of the present conclusions.

4.2     the decision of the UN General Assembly to convene the World Summit on Information Society in 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis, and invites the Commission and Member States to work together, to ensure that the development and poverty eradication dimension, and particularly the interests of the poorest countries, are fully taken into account. To this end, they could jointly prepare concrete proposals. It also notes the importance of ensuring full transparency and wide participation and, in this context, of the need for the private and non-governmental sectors to be fully associated to the Summit and its preparatory process.