Global Policy Forum

By Zeng Min

For those who know how to use the Internet, chatting with foreign pals can be easy. So, too, is e-commerce, be it shopping for favorite CDs or clinching a big-bucks deal. But getting farmers in China, shepherds in Iran or a tribal community in Africa to learn the benefits of cyberspace remains a major problem.

People in real space often say: The Internet can't feed me. It can't dress me or pay my bills. Why should I embrace it? "That is why enhancing public awareness of Internet benefits is a big global issue," said Makarim Wibisono, president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Wibisono said on Monday that Internet users overwhelmingly live in North America, with 70 per cent of the world's users in the United States and Canada. "People in the developing world have been largely on the sideline of the on-line game," Wibisono said at a high-level Asia Pacific information technology forum in Shanghai.

Wibisono said the UN will initiate programmes, such as a road show, a technology display and an ad campaign to publicize the benefits of using the Internet. "The UN will set up a programme to introduce the Internet to more developing countries, and a voluntary group of information technology experts and talents will be set up in the future to help bring the Internet to more people's lives," he said.

Wibisono urged the rich to help the poor - for instance, by shipping idle computers to the developing countries where computers are largely unaffordable. In a letter to the forum, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the developing countries should co-operate on information technology issues to ensure that the Internet benefits everyone.

Annan called for developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to share their visions, strategies and best practices so that a framework can be created to harness the Internet for the betterment of people's lives. Annan said the development of information technology worldwide offers the developing countries an opportunity to bridge the gap with the developed countries.

However, challenges loom. "Half the world's people have never made or received a telephone call, let alone surfed the world wide web. The gap between the information haves and have-nots is widening and there is a real danger that the world's poor will be excluded from the information revolution," he said. Annan added: "The world's cities, which are centres of political, economic, social and cultural dynamism, can play a catalytic role in this regard."

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