Message of UNESCO Director General, Koïchiro Matsuura, to the participants of the seminar in Kothmale, Sri Lanka

International Seminar on Integrating Modern and Traditional Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Kothmale, Sri Lanka

It gives me great pleasure to send greetings to all the participants in the international seminar: “Integrating Modern and Traditional Information and Communication Technologies for Community Development”. I wish particularly to congratulate the Sri Lanka authorities, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and the Kothmale Internet Project of Kothmale Community Radio for their role in organising this important event.

This meeting presents an opportunity to address the problem of the digital divide at a level where the challenge is perhaps the greatest - that of the poorest communities of the developing world. This is the first international pooling of project experience in an innovative area which many believe offers the “missing link” in efforts to eradicate poverty: the harnessing of new information and communication technologies together with community radio for community development and empowerment.

UNESCO’s new programme for Community Multimedia Centres offers a practical, grass-roots response to this need to provide greater access to information and communication through its combination of community broadcasting with Internet and related technologies. It builds on many years of UNESCO experience in the use of information and communication technologies in the service of development, democratization and peace.

I am pleased to note that this meeting comes within the framework of the Global Knowledge Partnership’s Action Plan, for which UNESCO has undertaken the "champion" role for Action Item 1.3. The Kothmale meeting is particularly timely, as the GKP is undertaking the consultative process for the G-8's Digital Opportunities Taskforce (DOT.force) set up on the basis of the Okinawa Charter.

I am confident that your deliberations will contribute concrete strategies to the global dialogue on bridging the digital divide, and I wish you a successful and fruitful seminar.