1.       Introduction

I am Jason Bellone, Chief of the Information and Communications Technology Section at the UN Office in Geneva. As you may be aware, Mr. Choi Soon-hong, UN Assistant Secretary General and Chief Information Technology Officer, was scheduled to make introductory remarks at Web4Dev Conference. However, due to other work requirements, he cannot come to this conference.  At Mr. Choi’s request, therefore, I am going to deliver his message to the conference.

First, I would like to briefly cover Mr. Choi’s background.

Mr. Choi Soon-hong of the Republic of Korea is the Chief Information Technology Officer of the United Nations with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General. The UN General Assembly approved the position of Chief Information Technology Officer in July 2006, as part of the reform proposals put forth last year by the Secretary-General.
Mr. Choi, who assumed his duties in late August 2007, is responsible for all substantive and operational needs for the information and communication technologies employed by the United Nations. This involves developing, maintaining and monitoring the implementation of effective tools and strategies to modernize the organization. One of his immediate tasks is to oversee the introduction of the new Enterprise Resource Planning system across the organization. He is responsible for providing leadership and coordination in the area of IT to strengthen the ability of UN to deliver the change management needed.

Mr. Choi has 30 years of technical and management experience in the public and private sectors. He has lectured and researched in the fields of public policy, strategic management, and innovation and has presented his work in a number of major international conferences. His recent research interests include globalization, technology competition, digital society, knowledge sharing, and ICT for development.

2.       Mr. Choi’s Remarks

To the Honorable, thank you for your remarks and the opportunity to share the podium with you. I wish to add my sincere appreciation for UN-Habitat to host this important conference here in Nairobi – and the first to be held in Africa. 

As you have heard from the introduction, I am new to my current position and I have been learning a lot about many important activities of the United Nations. I am pleased to note that this conference is one of a continuing series of annual sessions of the WEB4DEV conference addressing the intersection of two very important issues: the Internet and development.

And the theme of this particular session is significant to all of us: using the Internet to drive economic and social development. Such development is the work of all of us in the UN system, and it is very appropriate to convene such a meeting, right here, in Africa for the first time, and to emphasize our collective desire to move from discussion to action: driving development with the Internet.

I am not a newcomer to the UN system, nor am I a stranger to development issues. At this session, we are talking about the economic and social development of the world and showcasing current and future Information and Communications Technology (ICT) efforts that are supportive of the development. The UN is committed to development by the declarations and actions of member states; as individuals, UN staff are bound by our oaths of office to support the mission and goals the United Nations.

And of course there are many issues to be addressed here in Africa – and elsewhere in the developing world – as we strive to overcome the digital divide; in particular, access to computers remains limited on a per capita basis, compared to the developed world, and we need solutions for not just the physical infrastructure, such as computers, networks and so forth, but also for the human infrastructure: skills, education, training, etc. I hope this conference will help generate viable solutions toward this end.

We know of many Internet-based tools that can be employed to accelerate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: eLearning, eAgriculture, eCommerce, and eHealth, for example, as well as online access to research and education materials and the innovative use of social networking tools to improve governance. This conference brings together the people who can assemble those tools by forging partnerships amongst governments, civil society, the private sector, and youth, complementing each other to spread the benefits of ICT, and then drive economic and social development using the Internet.

What role can the UN play? The UN Charter says, in part, that the UN’s purpose is to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems… and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends. In the 21st century, this is increasingly achieved by using information and communications technology – ICT: in short, by using the Internet to drive development, the focus of this conference. We at the UN will take an active role in bringing together all the actors from around the world – governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector, and academic institutions – to address the issues. At the regional level, through our economic commissions and other institutions – specifically the Economic Commission for Africa on this continent – we can make sure that ICT is addressed in regional development strategies. Of course, the UN system makes extensive use of the Internet to support its own work in development and humanitarian activities and this will not only continue but accelerate.

But what specifically must the UN do? The Millennium Declaration of the General Assembly reaffirms the above purposes from the Charter and contains more specificity regarding ICT – I quote: In support of development and poverty eradication, to ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially ICT,… are available to all. We must not only coordinate but must in fact ensure that the digital divide is crossed for all the peoples of the world.

One new initiative is the UN System Portal which will introduce standardized knowledge sharing practices and a common communication platform for the entire UN system family of organizations. You will hear more about this from my colleague Richard Maciver at a later session. [Jason, please put here a reference to your Web solution to be presented at the conference].  The MDG Monitor is also an important tool for tracking progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, the UN has also joined the Internet2 organization on behalf of the UN System and through that connection is gaining access to the global research and education (R&E) networks that will provide a direct Internet route among UN system agencies and millions of students, academicians, and researchers worldwide – those networks are forming in Africa as well and Nairobi is the center of that effort. Many other initiatives boost the forces of development, including the UN’s own efforts to improve efficiency and effectiveness across the globe with new systems and improved infrastructure.

In closing I would like to touch for a moment on my role in the Organization. I advise the Secretary General in the area of information and communications technology and am the senior UN officer responsible for developing and implementing the ICT strategy. This strategy will both affect and benefit the global Secretariat - and the other organizations in the UN system, as well as our ultimate stakeholders – the people of all nations worldwide, and especially here in Africa where so much of our attention is placed. As his chief advisor on ICT, the Secretary General’s concerns are of course my concerns and I will assist him in effectively bringing information and communications technology solutions to help realize the mission and goals of the United Nations.

The Secretary General has a serious interest in development – and I of course share that deep interest. The work that you do here at this conference is very important: harnessing information and communications technology resources to drive economic and social development. I assure you of my support for your efforts and trust your discussions will be very productive in forming the ideas and partnerships necessary to implement concrete actions to address this important mission.

Thank you very much.