A major international effort must be made to help developing countries assess their readiness for electronic commerce and to provide help to those who wish to improve policies that are deficient. A huge effort, involving partnerships between the public and private sectors, will be required to help developing countries establish the connectivity needed to bring the internet within reach of all of their citizens. In the limited time left today, I would like to identify a few of the most important policy parameters that make up an environment friendly to electronic commerce. Participation in the global information society first and foremost requires widespread, reliable and affordable access to the internet. Competition in the telecommunications market brings lower prices, greater innovation and improved quality of services for consumers.
Lower rates stimulate greater usage of the network, including the internet.
One of the biggest challenges for the developing world is to build the national and international internet backbones that make low cost network access possible. Private investment can help. The rapid worldwide explosion in the growth and use of new technologies would not have occurred without private investment and competition. Literally thousands of service providers worldwide are investing tens of billions of dollars in new IT infrastructure. In addition, there is likely to be a significant role for development assistance in helping developing countries put this infrastructure in place.