Alexander NTOKO Chief, E-Strategies Unit ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau

1. ITU E-strategies ITU/BDT Arab Regional Workshop on “e-Services Policies” Damascus, Syria - 27-29 April 2004 Alexander NTOKO Chief, E-Strategies Unit ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau

2. What is it all about? • Using ICTs to reduce the social divide, improve the quality of life and facilitate entry into the information society for developing countries. • Leveraging the potentials of Internet as a low-cost channel for the delivery of societal applications for various sectors. • Creating favorable conditions in policies, strategies and e-legislation to foster the development and use of ICT applications. • Building awareness and enhancing trust and security in the use of ICT applications.

3. It’s all about harnessing the potentials of ICTs for the socio-economic development of the population of developing countries

4. What do we do? • Addressing technical and policy issues related to the development of Internet through projects and events. • Coordinating the design, development and implementation of projects on e-commerce, e-government, e-health, e-security, e-learning and e-agriculture etc. • Providing guidance in the elaboration of national and regional policies, strategies and e-legislation through workshops and seminars. • Implementing MCT projects to enable affordable access to ICTs applications and services. • Promoting the development of solutions to enhance trust and security through project implementation. • Building basic awareness on ICTs potentials for policy makers and the general population including people with special needs.

5. Why are we doing it? • Strategic Plan of the ITU adopted by ITU Member States (189) at the 2002 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP02). • Decisions of ITU Member States adopted at the World Telecommunication Development Conferences (WTDC 1998 and 2002) - Valletta and Istanbul Action Plans. • Resolutions Adopted by ITU Member States at WTDC and Plenipotentiary Conferences. • …assist in the implementation of new projects such as, but not limited to, tele-medicine, tele‑education, e‑commerce, tele-centres; ensure that all necessary means will be allocated for the promotion and implementation of national, regional, interregional and global projects, ensuring satisfaction for the developing countries. WTDC02 Resolution. 17 • … to harness the potentials of ICT so as to contribute to reducing the social divide and improving the quality of life, good governance, better access to health services, distant learning and universal access… WTDC02 IsAP Istanbul Action Plan Programme 3

6. What are the priority areas? • Internet Protocol: Policy and technical aspects of Internet Protocol (IP) networks and services. • ICT Applications: E-services/applications (e.g., e-government, e-commerce, e-agriculture, e-health, e-learning, e-cinema, tele-working). • MCTs/MPPs: Multipurpose community telecenters (MCTs) and multipurpose platforms (MPPs). • E-legislation: Favorable legal environment for the development of E-services/applications. • E-Security: Enhancing security and confidence in the use of public networks for ICT applications. • ICT Awareness: Enhancing ICT literacy and building public awareness.

7. What have we achieved? • Received award at Global Bangemann Projects Challenge in Stockholm, Sweden in 1999. • EC-DC Cited inTime Magazine (July 2000)and many national and international media as an activity to watch out for. • Considered to be the largest e-businessproject by - International Security Review (April 2001). • Partnership Agreements with WTC Geneva, WISeKey, Goodwin Procter LLP and FUNDANDINA. • Support of several leading ICT companies with significant (mostly in-kind) contribution.

8. ITU EC-DC – Acronym for Largest E-Business DeploymentInternational Security Review (ISR) – April 2001edition

9. What have we achieved? More than 500 participants from 128 countries and more than 50 Security and Trust experts met at ITU HQ in Geneva for 3 days to launch the World Internet Secure Infrastructure. The first Geopolitical Public Key Infrastructure designed to deliver services to businesses from more than 100 Countries. An African delegate watching live PKI demo at the Secure Electronic Commerce Partnership Workshop BDT Director At Opening Ceremony Participants And Industry Experts

10. What have we achieved? • Operational e-applications (e-commerce and e-government) projects in Africa, Asia,Europe, Latin America and Arab Region. • E-security projects in many countries (including LDCs) from Africa, Asia and Latin America became operational since 2002. • Operational e-health projects in 10 countries from Africa, Europe, Central America and Asia. • Several regional events to address ICT policies and strategies (e.g., IP Symposia for Africa and Europe  Kigali and Moscow Declarations). • Direct assistance to several ITU Member States in national ICT policies.

11. What have we achieved? • Deployment of advanced security solutions (digital signatures and finger print biometric authentication) in developing countries. • Assistance in establishing harmonized e-legislation for 4 Latin American States (ASETA) and 3 African States. • Publications on E-Business and Internet Policies and Technologies (e.g., World Market Series – Business, International Security Review). • Operational e-government, e-agriculture, e-business and e-health projects for 2003. • Mainly in-house used expertise in most activities.

12. What have we achieved?Operational and ongoing activities in all regions of the world

13. For Further Information: E-Strategies Unit International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) Place des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland Fax: +41 22 730 5484 Web: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-strategy Email: e-strategy@itu.int