United Nations

Note No. 6035
26 September 2006

Note to Correspondents

Intel Chief to Meet with Secretary-General, United Nations Alliance For Accelerating Digital Revolution in Developing Countries

NEW YORK, 25 September (UN Headquarters) -- Intel chairman Craig Barrett will discuss means for closing the digital divide with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 27 September, in association with that day's Steering Committee meeting of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology and Development.

Agenda items for the meeting, to be opened by the Secretary-General, include:

• support for African rollout of communication infrastructure and efforts to bring more broadband to the continent;
• the "telecentre 2.0" initiative to supplement the first wave of centres with ones that are sustainable and build local capacity;
• a proposed volunteer "cyber development corps"; and
• modes of information processing and communications that are accessible to disabled people in the developing world.

Also attending the meeting will be Steering Committee members Jamaludin Jarjis, Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation; Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank; Walter Fust, Director-General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Titi Akinsanmi, Programme Manager, Global Teenager Project, South Africa; John Bernander, Secretary-General, Norwegian Broadcasting, European Broadcasting Union; Renate Bloem, President, Committee on NGOs, Switzerland; and Guy Sebban, Secretary-General, International Chamber of Commerce.

The Steering Committee is expected to endorse new Communities of Expertise -- inclusive networks relating to Alliance focus areas of education, health, entrepreneurship and governance, respectively.

Mr. Barrett will speak to the press following the noon briefing of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, on Wednesday 27 September in Room S-226.  Reporters who wish to attend and who do not have United Nations press credentials should fax a letter of assignment to 1 212 963 4642, and follow-up with a call to the United Nations Media Accreditation Unit at 1 212 963 7164.

The Global Alliance functions as a partnership and network supported by the United Nations, under the authority of the Secretary-General and the auspices of the Economic and Social Council.

For information or to arrange an interview, contact Enrica Murmura, Global Alliance Secretariat, tel.: 212 963-5913, e-mail: murmura@un.org ; or Tim Wall, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.: (212) 963-5851, e-mail: wallt@un.org .  For further information, please visit www.un-gaid.org .

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