Keynote Address by Mr. Sha Zukang Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Mission of the People s Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Head of the Chinese Delegation to the Cluster of WSIS-Related Events in Geneva 2007, to the Second Consultation meeting on Implementing WSIS outcomes related to Action Lines C1, C7 and C11 Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) for inviting me to address this gathering, which focuses on the role of government and all stakeholders in ICT for development. The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society recommends that the implementation of the outcome of the WSIS should take into account the themes and action lines detailed in the Geneva Plan of Action, and be moderated by UN agencies when appropriate. As Mr. Civili previously mentioned, ECOSOC was mandated to oversee the UN system-wide follow-up of the outcomes of the Geneva and Tunis phase of the Summit. This forum will allow us to discuss some thoughts on the implementation of these action lines. But before commenting on these specific items, let me share with you some general observations on governance arising from the information age. Public governance aspects arising from the information age The information age is having a dramatic impact on governance. Governments worldwide are undergoing a re-engineering process known as government reinvention. The goal of such a process, in which ICTs are playing a key role, is to improve efficiency and to deliver more transparent, high-quality government services to citizens. ICTs can be a powerful tool for both economic and social development, having a beneficial impact on jobs, health, education, and commerce. ICTs can also increase participation in democratic institutions by the general public, as well as promote e-inclusion by the less privileged and people with disabilities. ICTs should therefore be used as a strategic instrument to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to implement the WSIS Plan of Action. In this process of government reinvention, ICTs can play an important role in providing citizens access to government information and increasing citizen participation. In many countries throughout the world, governments have already published their laws, codes and regulations online. Government websites are becoming increasingly interactive, providing not only information, but in many cases actual services. Successful governance in this knowledge economy will require the effective management of information and knowledge assets, IT planning and e-government activities. Let me now turn to the issue of ICTs in governance, or more specifically to WSIS Action lines, starting with C1.The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development. 1
Public sector reforms throughout the world embodying ICTs are part of an ongoing effort to build trust in defining the terms of a social contract between the diverse groups that make up a society. New forms of dialogue and collaboration among public, private, and civil society organizations enhance transparency and accountability that can assist in creating conditions of fair and open competition while expanding access so that everyone can participate and benefit from today s knowledge-based economy. E-inclusion, one of the many pre-occupations of modern government, can broaden access to social and economic opportunities, thereby creating new markets in developing countries. The WSIS framework for partnerships provides some key areas where initiatives could serve as models for collaboration. Of particular concern to the world community is the African continent, even more so than the other less developed regions, because of its dire need of resources. Experts at a recent NEPAD conference in Nairobi, Kenya, warned that development will be seriously hindered if Africa fails to bridge the ICT gap that separates the continent from developed countries. Despite improvements, only 2.5 per cent of Africa s 800 million people have Internet access, compared with 17.8 per cent in the rest of the world. Government s role in bridging the digital divide and providing access to all is paramount. For instance, the Government of the Republic of Korea has worked on the Information Network Village project to expand economic development from the metropolitan to the rural areas and to bridge the divide of information and communication. Since its initial planning in 2001, 25 Information Network Villages were created in 2002, and now as of 2006 - there are 305 such villages. But governments alone cannot bear the burden of transforming their societies into information societies. There is a clear need for multi-stakeholder engagement. There are many examples of success stories involving the collaboration between governments and other stakeholders. One such story is the e-school initiative by the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD), in which thirteen private companies will initially supply the necessary equipment and training to students and teachers. Governments will then oversee the school administrations. NEPAD promoters hope that if sufficient funds become available, up to 600,000 institutions and ultimately all African primary and secondary schools will be transformed into e-schools. The contribution of academia is another pillar that can be added to reinforce the collaboration between governments and business. A project conceived by academics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called one laptop per child, aims to use a variety of novel technologies to reduce the cost of a laptop to $100 and through government sponsorship distribute millions of the machines to children in poor countries. Another group of academics from Cambridge has created a device that allows one PC to be used by many people at the same time. An example of a partnership involving the collaboration of NGOs comes from Malaysia. Malaysia s Rural Internet Programme, initiated by the Government in 2000, aims to provide universal access to information and communication through the community- 2
shared facilities and services made available at conveniently located Rural Internet Centres. This programme relies on a tri-sectoral partnership comprising public-private community collaboration. A Steering Committee, which includes representatives from other government agencies, the computer industry and NGOs, was formed to discuss the implementation of the programme. The Government is providing the policy framework and strategic directions, as well as arranging for project funding. The private sector s contribution is to build and maintain the annexes at selected post offices across the nation to accommodate the centre. The host community s contribution is to promote awareness of the Rural Internet Centre s facilities. The success of nations, therefore, largely depends to a great extent on comprehensive and coordinated frameworks with all stakeholders. Public/private collaboration is particularly important as it helps to ensure that the provision of vital services matches the needs of the private sector. This is especially critical for developing countries, which tend to have less robust economic foundations and fewer resources. I would now like to turn to a discussion of C7.ICT applications E-government. Information technology plays a key role in improving efficiencies and delivering more transparent, high-quality government services to citizens. A major impact of the Internet on the way government operates is the trend towards an increasingly open, transparent and accountable government. Transparency validates accountability and allows citizens to independently assess the effectiveness of their government. In 1980, only 20% of OECD countries had a Freedom of Information Act. Today, more than 90% have a Freedom of Information Act and an Ombudsman Office, and over 50% have customer service standards. An important driver of this trend is the Internet. In an effort to increase public trust in government, important public data must not only be available online, but also be packaged in a user-friendly format which citizens can easily navigate. But there are a number of other parallel trends taking place that are reshaping the public sector. One of these trends is towards an increasingly networked model of governance. In this governance model, executives core responsibilities no longer focus on managing people and programmes, designed for hierarchical structures, but on organizing resources, often belonging to others, in order to produce public value. The movement from vertical to networked governance has been driven by a number of forces, such as the public s growing demand for personalized and integrated services, the declining cost of technologies and the Internet, and the increasing number of problems which demand cross-governmental responses. The rise of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to meet the increasing demands for infrastructure, exemplifies the trend towards networked governance. Another transforming trend that is taking place is towards an increasingly outcomesbased government. Outcomes-based approaches to government measure success by the results achieved, not by the sums of money spent. Outcome budgeting is much more involved than traditional budgeting. Legislators must understand what outcomes their citizens really want, which is made possible with the Internet, and must make educated guesses about how much to spend and where, in order to achieve those desired results. 3
Innovative governments are also transforming public service delivery towards an increasingly participatory government. Governments are increasingly engaging citizens in target-setting and performance evaluation. Governments are also striving to strengthen public participation in service delivery. Programmes are placed on websites for citizens to download and to modify in order to suit their needs. Then there is the trend towards an increasingly flexible government focused on downsizing and outsourcing, which allows individual governmental agencies to opt out of centralized personnel systems and devise their own. New technologies can assist in the training of employees to acquire skills in areas that are critical to the new governance model, such as team-building, project management, and risk analysis. Another leading practice exhibited by forward-looking governments is that of an increasingly personalized government. Through the increasing use of customer relationship management (CRM), governments can dramatically improve their customer relationships by reorganizing service delivery according to individually personalized needs rather than their own internal structures. Information technology enables governments to deliver personalized services at a low cost, as well as increase choice in public service provision. The web can help citizens make more informed decisions with respect to national health services, social services and public schools, by allowing consumers to see how public and private providers of these services are ranked. Citizens also expect multiple channels into public services. These channels include online, telephone, over the counter, mail, mobile, and kiosks. In an effort to create one-stop service organizations where citizens can access a variety of services and conduct transactions in one place, governments are making mobile services increasingly available to their citizens. The last item I was invited to comment upon is C11.International and regional cooperation. In my effort to offer you some comments in this area, I delved into the implications of my preceding comments for international and regional cooperation, and can offer the following observations. It is becoming increasingly clear that governments are in the information business and that the politically and economically successful systems of governance will be those which manage information effectively on a global scale. Development partners and other stakeholders will have a very important role to play in this process. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive and integrated approach in using ICTs to support development objectives. A host of new issues, all requiring effective governance, now face governments. But this new governance model cannot be carried out in isolation. International and regional collaboration is not simply a matter of choice for governments. It is a necessity. It is a necessity because it is equally clear that governments in the information age must also deal with a complex set of new issues involving regulation/deregulation, licensing, 4
incentives and risk management among the web providers and carriers, funding issues, and legislative issues, such as legislating privacy in e-commerce. These issues transcend national boundaries and require novel ways of collaborating at the international or regional level. The current explosion in online commerce has made security and privacy of personal information, including sensitive medical and financial data, a very important issue. The rise of the Internet and e-commerce will pose vexing challenges to systems of taxation and revenue collection. Worldwide, there are over 30,000 different governmental authorities that could lay claim to taxing transactions over the Internet. For the time being, the Internet is a tax-free zone. It is important that such taxation, if it materializes, does not stifle innovation or create incentives for evasion. E-commerce must be allowed to flourish through an appropriate public policy and legislative environment. All these issues cannot be resolved at the national level. International regulators must therefore be careful in regulating the Internet in order not to risk slowing its growth which is set to bring benefits to people throughout the world. International cooperation will also be needed to create common IT infrastructures, although I do recognize that international differences in technology standards may make it impossible to eliminate technological heterogeneity altogether. Building the new governance institutions for the 21 st century will most certainly be a daunting task to be faced by many governments worldwide. In this endeavour, governments will need to build stakeholder partnerships in each region and globally, and will need to be attuned to the best practices available. One such example of a stakeholder partnership is today s platform where these three Action Lines, which you all are participating in, come together. As I understand it, the recently established Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), focuses on e- governance as one of the four thematic areas (e-education, e-health, e-entrepreneurship, and e-governance). I do commend these types of initiatives that bring together regional and international networks of stakeholders to further the objectives of WSIS. I would like to close my remarks with a catch phrase for you all to consider during this consultation. And that is the following: ICTs improve global collaboration, but global collaboration also improves ICTs. An event such as this one gives us the opportunity for reflection and discussion, which will hopefully generate some innovative thinking on the use of technology for achieving sustainability. Now allow me to invite you to discuss these issues, and I hope that your deliberations will materialize in fruitful and concrete results. Thank you. 5