12 / 208
[
] 12
Five years ago, governments and people the world over reacted with justified optimism, hope and great expectation to
the Millennium Development Goals which set a clear timetable for, among other things, the halving of poverty by the
year 2015. Today, there is growing frustration, dashed hopes and painful resignation in many parts of the developing
world. The
Human Development Report
(HDR 2005) states that 18 countries have registered lower scores in the 2003
Human Development Index (HDI) than in 1990, a situation it calls “an unprecedented reversal” (HDR 2005, page 3).
While the global economy prospers, more than one billion of our neighbours live in squalor and extreme poverty. Over
220 million of these poor live in Caribbean and Latin American countries.
As we search for ways to reverse the fortunes of the world’s poor, both developed and developing countries must view
information and communication technology as the great equalizer in an increasingly unequal world. The result of this
re-think should be fundamental changes in public policy and attitude that would re-position technology from the
margins or periphery to the centre of our social and economic policy spaces.
The developed world has an indispensable role to play in helping the developing world to strengthen their scientific
and technological infrastructure. The Declaration of Principles developed at the first phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society in Geneva in 2003 must be transformed into discernable outcomes for the poor and powerless
around the world.
If we can harness the great potential of information and communication technology, the world can make significant
strides toward the 2015 deadline of halving poverty and to meet the other Millennium Development Goals that are
eluding many countries of the world.
Closing the digital divide will also close the gaps between the rich and poor within national borders and incomes
between people in developed and developing countries. An Information Society is the certain route to the eradication of
poverty and the sure foundation for sustainable development.
This second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society must therefore seek to help world leaders revive
the lost hope of hundreds of millions of people and replace their growing pessimism with optimism and renew their
expectations of a brighter tomorrow.
The world must remain united and focused on the singular quest for a decent life for all human beings. It is the only
route to the achievement of world peace, stability, freedom and democracy.
I look forward to the outcomes of this second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society and for the
practical recommendations that will move us closer to achieving the goals contained in the Johannesburg Declaration
and Plan of Implementation, the Monterrey Consensus, and other United Nations summits.
P.J. Patterson
Prime Minister of Jamaica
H.E. P.J. PATTERSON, MP, PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA