Ø     Top Stories

The Fourth Meeting of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) was held on the 21st and 22nd of February 2003 in Geneva. The substantive focus of the meeting was on the role of ICT in advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and on the Task Force’s contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its preparatory process. The Task Force also reviewed the follow-up to the Third Task Force meeting on Africa and discussed modalities for enhancing its advisory role to the United Nations Secretary-General, in particular, in the context of developing an ICT strategy for the United Nations system. For more information please visit:

 http://www.unicttf-arab.org/news/united.htm

Under the High Patronage of His Excellency The President of the Republic of Lebanon General Emile LAHOUD.

The UN ICT Task Force Arab Network in Collaboration with Banque du Liban (BDL) and Talal Abu Ghazaleh & Co International (TAGI) will organize the Conference, Towards E-Lebanon, for more details about this conference please visit:

http://www.unicttf-arab.org/news/lahood.htm

The Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) under the auspices UN ICT Task Force will host a conference at UN Headquarters in New York on June 26, 2003:

"The WiFi Opportunity for Developing Nations"

The conference, featuring plenary sessions and structured brainstorming workshops, will seek to establish strategies necessary to overcome those obstacles and develop environments favorable to the broad deployment of WiFi infrastructures. For information please visit:

http://www.unicttaskforce.org/common/Documents_Full_text.asp?ID=621

The ICT World Forum @ CeBIT 2003

Five hundred of the world leaders in the field of Information and Communication Technology will join the ICT World Forum @ CeBIT on March 10 – 11, 2003.

For more information about this event please visit:

http://www.ictwf.com/1event/event-e.htm

Ms. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh the Vice Chairman of the UN ICT Task Force and the Chairman of the Arab Regional Network. Will deliver a speech entitled: ICT`s for Development; fostering international cooperation at Harvard University on April 17, 2003. For more information Visit:

 http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidbiotech/events/abu-ghazaleh170403.htm    

The Official visit of Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, President of the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP, a Munich based non-profit association) at the EPO, Munich, for more details visits:

http://www.unicttf-arab.org/news/epo.htm

Ø     Publications

Telecommunication Regulation Handbook, prepared by InfoDev, a multidonor grant program managed by the World Bank’s Global Information and Communication Technologies (GICT) Department, is translated in to Arabic.

http://www.unicttf-arab.org/news/handbook.htm

Ø     Upcoming Events

Under the High Patronage of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Lebanon General Emil Lahoud. The UN ICT TF Arab Regional Network In collaboration with the Banque du Liban (BDL) and Tala Abu Ghazaleh & Co International (TAGI) will organize the conference Towards E- Lebanon which will be held on June 13-14, 2003, at the UN house (ESCWA Building) in Beirut. For more information see above in the top stories.

The Fifth Annual Meeting on Telecommunication Development in the Arab Region in Beirut, 27-31, 2003. The meeting will focus on the implementation of the resolutions arising from the last annual meeting as well as the most crucial issues related to telecoms. In the Arab region. It will identify priorities for future developments in the expanding fields of ICT.

http://www.ituarabic.org/Annual03/Brochure-ATIF.doc

Networked World: Information Technology and Globalization Conference
24 – 26 April, 2003
Santa Clara, CA

The US – Arab Economic Forum
15 – 17 May, 2003
Detroit- USA

Ø     Articles

Narrowing the Digital Divide
A Big Challenge for African Governments and Stakeholders http://www.ictfocus.net/junejuly/narrowing.htm

ICT and Gender Issues in Asia and the Pacific

By Victoria Cabrera-Balleza
Manager, Media Information and Communications Services Program

http://www.isiswomen.org/onsite/knowhow/ict_gender.htm

The Rise of Netpolitik

How the Internet is changing International politics and Diplomacy

By David Bollier

http://www.aspeninstitute.org/AspenInstitute/files/CCLIBRARYFILES/FILENAME/0000000077/netpolitik.pdf