Deputy Secretary-General at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mrs Florence Mugasha, has tasked the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) of the world to embrace technology.
Addressing participants at the just concluded United Nations High-Level Meeting, Ms Mugasha said that 15 out of the 53-member of Commonwealth are LDCs, noting that in order to successfully compete in the global marketplace and eradicate poverty, the affected nations needed to take technology very seriously.
“To assist LDCs and other developing member countries, it was important to empower citizens with information and communication technology (ICT),” she said, underlining that for this to be attained, LDCs need to be fully equipped.
She explained that this is being implemented through the 1.1 million euro Commonwealth Connects programme of the Commonwealth Secretariat to bridge the digital divide among member states, Mrs Mugasha told the Mid-term Comprehensive Global Review of the Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries for the decade 2001-2010.
“This initiative will spark projects to develop the ICT capacities of our members. The aim is to share Commonwealth best practice across key areas. This includes building policy and regulatory capacity; modernising education and skills development; encouraging entrepreneurship for wealth creation and poverty reduction; promoting local access and connectivity; and enhancing regional networks, local content and knowledge,” she stated.
In a related development, also addressing the UN High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, Mrs Mugasha highlighted the essence to improve the understanding and implementation of existing legal instruments on migration to make the process mutually beneficial to countries and migrants.
Pointing out the importance of developing better indicators to measure the impact of migration on development, and how it would contribute towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals and reduce poverty globally.
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