Coinciding with the first anniversary of china's accession to the
World Trade Organization, the 2002 infoDev Symposium successfully
concluded today in southwest China's Chongqing.
During the past two days (9-10 December 2002) some 300
participants, including high-level representatives from
governments, the private sector, and academia, addressed the theme
of "Information and Knowledge for Trade and Development".
This high profile event was co-hosted by China's Ministry of
Finance, the Municipality of Chongqing, and infoDev of the World
Bank Group.
In
his opening address, Vice Minister of Finance Jin Liqun underlined
that relying on low value-added, labor-intensive productions could
only be a short-term strategy and that China was "committed to
upgrading its education system and optimize investment in science
and technology for sustained development".
Executive Vice Mayor Huang Qifan outlined five kinds of
environmental improvements, which could help Chongqing to become a
leader in the emerging global economy. He declared that "through
this Symposium, we can make many foreign and domestic fiends to go
deep into the understanding of each other and find the cooperation
opportunities which will help to propel the construction of the
information center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River".
Frannie Leautier, vice president of the World Bank and head of the
Would Bank Institute, stressed the important role that the World
Bank Group was already playing in China in the area of knowledge.
She recalled that "the development community has recognized the
important roles that Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
and knowledge play in poverty reduction and capacity building, and
the importance of bridging not only the hardware gaps, but to equip
people with the skills and opportunities to create, access and use
technology and knowledge well".
Messages of support for the Symposium were received from the
Honorable Donald Johnston, secretary general of the OECD; Rubens
Ricupero, secretary-general of UNCTAD; and Mr. Denis Belisle,
executive director of the International Trade Center
(UNCTAD-WTO).
A
number of panels were organized on various topics including
WTO-related issues, e-government, distance learning, and the role
of ICT in fighting poverty. A special presentation was made of the
upcoming Global Information Technology Report (GITR), which will be
officially launched at the next annual meeting of the World
Economic Forum (Davos, January 2003). In this report, which is
co-produced by INSEAD, the World Economic Forum and infoDev, a
number of analyses and indicators describe the readiness of 82
countries to compete in the networked economy.
In
presenting this report, Bruno Lanvin, manager of infoDev, indicated
that "those countries that have been most successful at using ICTs
to foster their growth and development have been those in which the
government sector has played a leading role in the development of
ICTs while providing a supportive environment for the private
sector." He also emphasized that between 2001 and 2002, China was
the country that had moved up in the most spectacular fashion on
the network readiness index scale provided in the report. "Over the
last year, China moved up from a ranking of 64 to 43."
It
is expected that the success of the 2002 infoDev Symposium will
have visible effects in China and in Chongqing. On December 10, Ms.
Karin Finkelston, China country manager for the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group in China, and
Executive Vice Mayor Huang Qifan, signed a Memorandum of
Understanding which opens the way for further cooperation between
the Municipality of Chongqing and the IFC to mobilize private
financing and stimulate private sector growth.
At
the end of the meeting, it was also announced that an infoDev grant
of US$120,000 would be provided to the Municipality of Chongqing in
support of it's strategic e-government efforts.
Bruno Lanvin, manager of infoDev, explained that "this grant could
lead to leveraging other possible efforts from the World Bank
Group, including the Global Development Learning Network, the
Development Gateway, and other programs in support of small and
medium enterprises (SMEs).
At
the conclusion of the conference, it was announced that next year's
infoDev Symposium would be held in Geneva, Switzerland as a
parallel event to the World Summit on Information Society
(WSIS).
(China.org.cn December 10, 2002)