Discurso do Diretor Geral para a Sociedade da Informação - Comissão Européia
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am particularly happy to be here in Rio de Janeiro to continue the long standing cooperation between our regions on Information Society matters, and to share with you the European Union experience both in the policy and regulatory areas, as well as on research and development within the Information and Communication Technologies domain.
Firstly, I would like to express the regret of our Commissioner, Mrs. Viviane Reding, for being unable to participate in this event. Recent events have made it that, much later than initially foreseen, today is her first day in office and her formal appointment as the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media affairs.
I would like to covey to you the wish of Commissioner Reding that our work here today and tomorrow will lead to a major progress on the joint effort between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean to build an open and inclusive Information Society.
ICTs can stimulate not only economic development, but also social cohesion in our regions, as it has been recognized by our Heads of State and Government at the third LAC-EU Summit held in Guadalajara, Mexico in May of this year.
This Forum’s goal is to set up the basis for the development of a bilateral alliance for social cohesion through digital inclusion. Our discussions and common approach will undoubtedly serve as valuable input to the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society to be held in a year’s time.
The global impact of ICTs calls for international dialogue on many issues, both at the technical and political levels. Throughout the sessions of the Forum, Ministers and other government and public authorities representatives, as well as civil society and private sector participants, will be able to pursue this dialogue, both in order to define a common vision for the role of ICTs on social cohesion and to identify how best to foster cooperation between our regions to address the digital inclusion challenge.
International cooperation represents an important dimension of the European Union Information Society framework. The general objectives of international cooperation activities carried out by the European
Commission are twofold:
Through these initiatives, the European Union will share with the Latin American and Caribbean region its significant experience of tackling the Information Society on a cross-border basis.
This is notably the case for the initiative called “eEurope: An Information Society for All”, which is the e-strategy of the European Union. This initiative was launched by the European Commission in 2000 to promote the harmonized development of the Information Society in the European Union, by involving Governments at the highest level, as well as the other stakeholders, in a joint and coordinated effort.
Through the Policy and Regulatory Dialogue on Information Society launched here today, both regions will be able to exchange experiences and best practices on their respective approaches. Notably, Latin America and the Caribbean will be able to benefit from the extensive experience that the European Union developed with its eEurope initiative. In a similar way, the EU will benefit from the successful experiences in this regard that are being developed in some countries in the LAC region.
Let me also indicate the importance of the European Union research and development Information Society Technologies Programme, commonly called the “IST Programme”. This programme is open to non-European participants. A specific budget of 90 Meuro has been set aside to cover participation of a number of third countries, including Latin American and Caribbean partners.
By opening its IST programme for cooperation to the best teams worldwide, the European Union is promoting the establishment of the Information Society not only in Europe but in the world.
In this context, I would like to draw your attention to the seminar on opportunities for partnerships between both regions on research and development in the field of Information Society Technologies, which will be held tomorrow (Tuesday) in the afternoon at this hotel, after this Forum.
The aim of this seminar will be to foster research & development partnerships between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean in the ICT field in the context of the European Union research framework programmes.
The time is certainly appropriate to strengthen bi-regional cooperation, building on the interconnection of research and education networks that is being launched here today.
I would also like to draw your attention to the presentation of applications from both of our regions in diverse ICT domains, which will be carried out during this Forum in the hall of the hotel in front of this meeting room.
These applications illustrate some of the benefits that we can expect from ICT in areas like government and public administration, education, health and inclusion, among others, illustrating the potential of a bi-regional collaboration.
Conclusion
Finally, and this will be my conclusion, the strength of Latin American and Caribbean countries in diverse technological domains and their skilled human resources are recognized worldwide. The window of opportunity is here for transforming such technological and human assets into economic wealth. This, and the preparations under way for the World Summit on the Information Society, make this Ministerial Forum particularly timely.
This Forum could not be opened under better auspices, and I thus feel very confident about a fruitful exchange of views, which I hope will draw up creative co-operation proposals that will support the achievement of our common objective of building an open and inclusive Information and Knowledge Society.
Muito obrigado!
I am particularly happy to be here in Rio de Janeiro to continue the long standing cooperation between our regions on Information Society matters, and to share with you the European Union experience both in the policy and regulatory areas, as well as on research and development within the Information and Communication Technologies domain.
Firstly, I would like to express the regret of our Commissioner, Mrs. Viviane Reding, for being unable to participate in this event. Recent events have made it that, much later than initially foreseen, today is her first day in office and her formal appointment as the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media affairs.
I would like to covey to you the wish of Commissioner Reding that our work here today and tomorrow will lead to a major progress on the joint effort between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean to build an open and inclusive Information Society.
ICTs can stimulate not only economic development, but also social cohesion in our regions, as it has been recognized by our Heads of State and Government at the third LAC-EU Summit held in Guadalajara, Mexico in May of this year.
This Forum’s goal is to set up the basis for the development of a bilateral alliance for social cohesion through digital inclusion. Our discussions and common approach will undoubtedly serve as valuable input to the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society to be held in a year’s time.
The global impact of ICTs calls for international dialogue on many issues, both at the technical and political levels. Throughout the sessions of the Forum, Ministers and other government and public authorities representatives, as well as civil society and private sector participants, will be able to pursue this dialogue, both in order to define a common vision for the role of ICTs on social cohesion and to identify how best to foster cooperation between our regions to address the digital inclusion challenge.
International cooperation represents an important dimension of the European Union Information Society framework. The general objectives of international cooperation activities carried out by the European
Commission are twofold:
- First, to address global problems posed by an emerging Information Society and support its development, in emerging and developing countries, offering Europe’s experience and policy model, notably regarding open, transparent and predictable regulation;
- Second, to support both Europe’s and our international partners’
ICT industries and economic growth via international agreements,
promoting international research cooperation and giving access to our
world partners of EU research and development knowledge, technology and
skills.
- The on-going dialogue between Latin American and European telecommunication regulatory agencies;
- The existing exchange of experiences on ICT standards between the two regions; and
- The on-going joint development of applications demonstrating the
benefits of ICTs in the fields of e-governance, e-learning, e-health
and e-inclusion, some of them which will be shown during this Forum.
- The first research and education pan-Latin-American network CLARA and its linkage to the pan-European GÉANT network,
- The Bi-regional Policy and Regulatory Dialogue on Information Society matters.
Through these initiatives, the European Union will share with the Latin American and Caribbean region its significant experience of tackling the Information Society on a cross-border basis.
This is notably the case for the initiative called “eEurope: An Information Society for All”, which is the e-strategy of the European Union. This initiative was launched by the European Commission in 2000 to promote the harmonized development of the Information Society in the European Union, by involving Governments at the highest level, as well as the other stakeholders, in a joint and coordinated effort.
Through the Policy and Regulatory Dialogue on Information Society launched here today, both regions will be able to exchange experiences and best practices on their respective approaches. Notably, Latin America and the Caribbean will be able to benefit from the extensive experience that the European Union developed with its eEurope initiative. In a similar way, the EU will benefit from the successful experiences in this regard that are being developed in some countries in the LAC region.
Let me also indicate the importance of the European Union research and development Information Society Technologies Programme, commonly called the “IST Programme”. This programme is open to non-European participants. A specific budget of 90 Meuro has been set aside to cover participation of a number of third countries, including Latin American and Caribbean partners.
By opening its IST programme for cooperation to the best teams worldwide, the European Union is promoting the establishment of the Information Society not only in Europe but in the world.
In this context, I would like to draw your attention to the seminar on opportunities for partnerships between both regions on research and development in the field of Information Society Technologies, which will be held tomorrow (Tuesday) in the afternoon at this hotel, after this Forum.
The aim of this seminar will be to foster research & development partnerships between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean in the ICT field in the context of the European Union research framework programmes.
The time is certainly appropriate to strengthen bi-regional cooperation, building on the interconnection of research and education networks that is being launched here today.
I would also like to draw your attention to the presentation of applications from both of our regions in diverse ICT domains, which will be carried out during this Forum in the hall of the hotel in front of this meeting room.
These applications illustrate some of the benefits that we can expect from ICT in areas like government and public administration, education, health and inclusion, among others, illustrating the potential of a bi-regional collaboration.
Conclusion
Finally, and this will be my conclusion, the strength of Latin American and Caribbean countries in diverse technological domains and their skilled human resources are recognized worldwide. The window of opportunity is here for transforming such technological and human assets into economic wealth. This, and the preparations under way for the World Summit on the Information Society, make this Ministerial Forum particularly timely.
This Forum could not be opened under better auspices, and I thus feel very confident about a fruitful exchange of views, which I hope will draw up creative co-operation proposals that will support the achievement of our common objective of building an open and inclusive Information and Knowledge Society.
Muito obrigado!
UE dá o seu apoio à primeira rede de investigação e ensino da América Latina e Caraíbas e intensifica o diálogo político intercontinental sobre as questões ligadas à Sociedade da Informação
