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GAID Board Meeting on 8th February 2010 in New York |
| Source Date: |
Monday, February 08, 2010 |
| Focus: |
M-banking, M-trade, M-finance
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| Created: |
Mar 01, 2010 |
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 Left-to-Right Above: Mr. Sha Zukang, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh and Mr. Sergei Kambalov.
On Monday 8 February 2010, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh convened, in his capacity as Chair of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), a meeting of the Board of GAID. The meeting, held shortly after Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh’s meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, was held on the premises of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs that supports the Alliance and hosts GAID secretariat. Mr. Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, addressed the meeting and took active participation in its proceedings. Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh chaired the meeting.
Left-to-Right Above: Mr. Richard Hall, H.E. Mr. Ivo Ivanovski, Armen Orujyan, Mr. Kamran Elahian, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Mr. Ramon Garza, Ms. Samar Al-Labbad and Mr. Jeffrey Huffines.
Taking part in the meeting were the two Co-Chairs of the Alliance Mr. Ramon Garza, President and CEO of Indigo BrainMedia and Mr. Kamran Elahian, Chairman and CEO of Global Catalyst Partners. Board members participating in the meeting included: H.E. Mr. Ivo Ivanovski, Minister for Information Society of Macedonia, Mr. Richard Hall of Intel Corporation, Mr. Pietro Sicuro of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Mr. Armen Orujyan,President of ATHGO International, Mr. Jeffrey Huffines of CIVICUS, Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director of the Division of Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Ms. Samar Al-Labbad, Deputy Chair of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization. Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Ulf Pehrsson of Ericsson and Mr. Jaroslaw Ponder of the International Telecommunication Union participated by video- and telephone conference. Mr. Sarbuland Khan, Honorary Advisor to the Chairman of GAID, actively participated in the discussion. Also present were several United Nations staff members and members of the secretariat of GAID.
At the outset, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh briefed the meeting on the meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General that he, accompanied by Messrs. Garza, Elahian and Hall, had earlier in the day. Participants welcomed the outcomes of the meeting and congratulated Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh on his unprecedented success in getting the Secretary-General’s acceptance of the Chairman’s invitation to be an Honorary Chair of the Alliance and to extend his personal patronage to the initiative to create a Matrix of ICT Solutions for MDGs Advancement. All agreed that it was indeed a “historic day” for the future work of the Alliance.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh proposed that the designation of the governing body of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development be changed from the Steering Committee to the Board of Directors to bring it into accordance with general practice. The motion was supported by all participants, as was the Chairman’s proposal to designate Mr. Richard Hall as Vice-Chair of the Alliance.
The main thrust of the discussion at the meeting of the Board was on how to strengthen the Alliance’s contribution to United Nations Development Agenda and, in particular, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Board decided to re-focus the work of the Alliance in 2010 on supporting the achievement of the MDGs and, to this end, approved a revised Plan of Action for 2010.
Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh shared with the Board his Proposal on constructing a Matrix of ICT Solutions for MDGs Advancement that he had presented earlier in the day to the Secretary-General who endorsed the concept and approaches outlined in the Proposal. The Chairman offered for the Board’s consideration his ideas on the concrete aspects of the organization of work on the Matrix to ensure its timely and effective preparation and launch. The Board endorsed the Chairman’s proposals.
Among other important items on the agenda of the meeting as formulated by the Chairman, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, were a proposal to launch work on a Declaration on Rights in the Information Age initiated by Mr. Ramon Garza, Co-Chair of GAID and the Chairman’s initiative on using ICT for protection of life and property. The Board also addressed a number of important organizational matters such as future GAID events, including major activities during the last week of the World Expo in Shanghai in late October, as well as organizational and financial aspects of the work of the Alliance and its governance.
The Board welcomed the appointment of the new Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Global Alliance, Mr. Sergei Kambalov, to succeed Mr. Sarbuland Khan, who will continue to assist GAID as an Honorary Advisor to the GAID Chairman, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
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