Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh who has been elected GAID Chair announced a new mission statement to the Alliance’s leadership
DAMASCUS --- June 17, 2009 --- Under the patronage of the Government of Syria, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman and CEO of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), delivered the opening statement at the “Follow-up to the Implementation of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Outcomes in Western Asia” conference which was inaugurated on June 16, 2009 in Damascus.
This event, organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), aims at tracking and revising the implementation of the outcomes of the WSIS, in addition to updating the regional plans of action to build the information society in Western Asia.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman, UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), discussed various topics among which are Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development, the world economic crisis, innovation and GAID’s mission.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh who was recently elected GAID Chair announced a new mission statement to GAID’s leadership.
“United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)-GAID shall act as an inclusive, multi-stakeholder global forum, composed of representatives from public, private and civil society sectors as well as international organizations, for policy dialogue and partnership-building to promote the use of ICT for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to enable and catalyze multi-stakeholder partnership for action under the GAID umbrella,” he said.
‘UNDESA-GAID should address the slow pace of progress towards the achievement of the MDGs at the heart of developing countries and the added difficulties by the ongoing world economic and financial vises,” he added.