Wairagala Wakabi

World leaders have endorsed a plan under which modern communication technologies will be extended to the poor, and other efforts undertaken to bridge the digital divide between poor and rich countries.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked world leaders assembled in Geneva for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to devise ways of closing the digital divide, which he referred to as one of the biggest non-tariff barriers to world trade.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development, the World Tourism Organisation and other agencies are helping some African states to increase their access to and use of information technologies in developing their tourism sectors.

The draft plan of action to be presented to heads of state at WSIS sets ambitious targets for nations in order to promote the spread and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Once the action plan is adopted by the summit, it will enjoin states to promote the use, availability and affordability of ICTs among sections of society that currently do not use them.