In conjunction with the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, two major events will be held at the Marrakesh Palais des Congrès, in the presence of His Excellency Mr Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Morocco and His Excellency Mr Nasr Hajji, Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of Morocco in charge of Posts, and Telecommunication and Information Technologies.
Taking advantage of the presence of government representatives from around the world attending the 16th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-02), the Moroccan authorities considered it important to organize an international forum in a bid to:
- Enrich and give further impetus to the global debate on the information society within the context of accelerated globalization through the extension of information and communication technologies (ICT);
- Encourage participation in this debate, alongside political decision-makers, economic actors and company managers, specialists and experts, as well as representatives of the civil society, insofar as all these social actors will be concerned by the impact of those technologies;
- Propose realistic solutions to the threat of the digital divide, so as to include those who are, or risk being, excluded, from economic and social progress resulting from ICTs;
- Raise awareness of ITU governing bodies to the challenges raised by the digital divide through a "Declaration of Marrakesh".
The International Forum will also provide an opportunity to show participants the progress achieved by the Kingdom of Morocco in the various fields of ICT applications, give a precise indication of the country's policy in this area and in so doing, involve foreign enterprises in this national effort within the framework of the new Moroccan economy.
The Forum will comprise of two plenary sessions (Saturday 28 September, afternoon, and Sunday 29 September early evening), the first one dedicated to the opening of the Forum and to the presentation of the challenges of the international information society; the second one dedicated to a presentation of the roundtables summary, leading at closure to a reading of the Declaration of Marrakech.
A protocol agreement between the Bouznika "Technopolis" and a number of private companies and international organizations will also be signed on Saturday, 28 September 2002 at the Marrakesh Palais des Congrès. |
