East Timor is already an active party of our Community, as it was warmly welcomed in the Maputo Summit. Allow me to extend, on behalf of the member states of CPLP, our most sincere congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman, and to the distinguished colleagues, on your assumption as new members of the Bureau of the Committee on Information. We also take this opportunity to warmly welcome the Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, Mr. Shashi Tharoor, and to thank him for his insightful and comprehensive statement, delivered at this Committee on Monday. We wish to state our full cooperation with the DPI and support to Mr. Tharoor s energizing of the work of the Department. Mr. Chairman, Today we deal again with the issue of information, one of the most valuable commodities of the new Millennium.
Information is about empowerment and development.
It is the key to lifting the lives of more and more peoples towards the knowledge society and the new digital society that are being outlined. The CPLP commends the UN Secretary-General for his leadership in building bridges over the digital divide. But the future that we all want will only be produced by our work in the present, according to the realities of today. And today s realities, even within the Lusophone Community, are as different as the regions in the world where our countries are geographically located. That is why, Mr. Chairman, we attach particular importance to the message of the United Nations through DPI s radio broadcasts and its Portuguese Language activities.