Delegates attending the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in south China's
Hainan Province agreed Saturday that the digital gap between the
developing and the developed countries must be closed as soon as
possible.
Wu
Jichuan, China's minister of the information industry, said that
the national treatment, market access and fair play stipulated by
the World Trade Organization will not be truly materialized unless
the disparity between the rich and the poor stops widening.
Wu
called on the developed countries, in a panel discussion held by
the BFA on Asia's digital future, to truly reach out to the
less-developed nations, and help them set up their own appropriate
information infrastructure.
Lee Soo-sung, Former prime minister of the Republic of Korea, said
that he believed that a feasible national strategy is crucial to
the quicker completion of a country's industrialization and
information network.
He
said that Asian countries should increase their technical
innovation capabilities and enlarge their information industry
input.
Thanks to the close historical and cultural connections among Asian
countries, Lee said, the sharing of digital technologies and
exchange of up-to-date information is possible.
Parappil Rajendran, director of the India-based NIIT Company, said
that the unswerving innovative spirit of entrepreneurs and the
non-intervention policy of the Indian government have promoted the
development of India's new and high technology sector.
Ernest Wilson, of the University of Maryland in the US, said that,
to complete the transition from the traditional economy to the
high-tech-fueled new economy, developing countries must also focus
on the reform of the social management structure, the establishment
of a more transparent market allowing equal competition, technical
training and basic education
(China
Daily April 14, 2002)