Speaking at the closing of the Informatics 2000 conference at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C., Iglesias said the Bank will provide technical assistance for the drafting of regional and national informatics plans, as well as for the design of regulatory frameworks that facilitate private investment in the sector. Experts analyzed the development of informatics technology in different sectors of the economy and in different countries of the region. Iglesias said the IDB will support the development of new technologies in the public sectors of each country to improve efficiency of public spending and the quality of public services. In addition, the IDB will finance projects that provide access to informatics in communities that are either marginalized economically or isolated geographically. The Bank will also create an advisory council on informatics infrastructure, with the participation of government representatives and civil society, to guide IDB operations in this area.
Universal access is possible.
Special emphasis was placed on analyzing the impact of informatics on education, the need for new regulatory frameworks, universal access to the Internet and electronic mail, the informatics revolution in agriculture, telemedicine, and the use of information technology to promote modernization of the state and strengthening of civil society. Among the several activities and agreements that took place during the conference, a group of six private companies offered to provide a digital satellite network for education in five countries, and Costa Rica signed a licensing and software agreement with Microsoft. The meeting was part of the Bank's Informatics 2000 Initiative, designed to explore proposals for the expansion of informatics and communications infrastructure in the region. A series of working groups organized in the framework of the initiative presented their recommendations during the conference. The topics analyzed during the seminar, co-sponsored by the United States and Chile, will serve as a basis for the drafting of an action plan for the upcoming Summit of the Americas, to be held in Santiago, Chile, in April 1998.