Sustainable Development; the dilemma of the developing countries.
(Posted on the ArabInfo Mall of Bibliotheca Alexandrina on 23/02/06)

Sustainable Development; the dilemma of the developing countries. Hundreds and hundreds of argues and discussions took place in hundreds of conferences, seminars, workshops, enormous local, regional and international gatherings and the change is still limited. Critics say not much has changed, we saw world leaders and international figures giving high quality speeches from their esteemed perches to make poverty a history, to achieve the target of saving about 12,000 people a day is also a massive step in the right direction and the challenge in 2006 is to do the same for other 37,000 people who today, and every day, will die, needlessly, from entirely preventable causes and the majority of these numbers are in Africa.

Lets have a quick glance to the following snap shots from the other side were the white collars guys sitting in their wealthy perches and what they are saying;
“At the end of May 2005, Europe agreed to double its aid by 2010 – with 15 countries promising that by 2015 they would give 0.7 per cent of their national income in aid. Then in June the G7 finance ministers agreed to cancel 100 per cent of the debts owed to multilateral bodies like the IMF; 18 countries would benefit initially, rising to 38 countries later.”
“The summit at Gleneagles set the seal on all that, and promised to implement 50 of the Africa Commission’s 90 recommendations. It doubled annual levels of aid. It endorsed the debt deal to write off the debts owed to the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank to those 56 poorest countries. It conceded, for the first time, that rich nations must not use aid, debt or trade deals to force African economies to liberalise. And it called for a timetable to end rich countries’ trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.”
“Kofi Annan and his economic adviser Professor Jeffrey Sachs, hailed a major breakthrough. But many aid agencies were surprisingly churlish, complaining that the debt deal was insufficient or that the aid was double-counted, though the bald fact is that the amount paid out in 2010 will be double what it was in 2004. One lobby group, locked in confrontational mode, went so far as to call the Gleneagles deal “a disaster for the world’s poor”.”
“September 2005 brought the UN Summit. It was supposed to focus on the world’s progress towards the Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty by 2015. But it got diverted into debates about UN reform, in which the US seemed most concerned about settling old scores over the UN’s lack of enthusiasm for its war in Iraq. The summit did some good things. It reversed the old convention that one state could not intervene in the affairs of another – genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity are all now legitimate grounds for intervention. It also set up a new Peace building Commission to do more on conflict-prevention and to make post-conflict aid work more effective. It established a more effective Human Rights Council, with double the old budget. It set up a $150 million standing fund to respond to crises like Niger. And 66 countries committed themselves to international levies – including environmentally-friendly taxes on air travel – to boost aid flows.”
But on the big issue of reviving the world’s flagging progress towards the Millennium Development Goals it was a huge disappointment.
“Trade was the disappointment of 2005. The Doha round of world trade talks was supposed to be designed to be a ‘development’ round. But the final deal did not live up to the fine words on trade from the G8 leaders at Gleneagles. A date of 2013 was fixed for an end to agricultural export subsidies. Some flexibility was given to poor nations to protect their small farmers from outside competition. There was some progress on preventing the abuse of food aid as a disguised form of dumping, and a few nominal concessions on cotton. But the idea of more aid to help Africa develop its capacity to trade has not been backed with much money. And on the key issue of other trade-distorting subsidies – 95 per cent of the total – the meeting ran away from making a decision.”
More than two thirds of the world’s population is in the south of our world; but where are their voices; where are they in the glorious international gatherings; where are the voices of the coming generations whom will face all of these?

I think the solution is not going to happen by raising the aids, not from the wealthy parts of our world; the solution is by our hands and we the ones whom should take the initiative and not just to wait and respond; the nations of the third world must wake up and make their initiative and I see from my point of view the efforts towards sustainable development will not achieve its historical goals before all the leaders, the ruling regimes and the nations in the third world countries believe and implement the following:

1- The loyal and honest believe in the “ownership concept” towards their countries.
2- Transparency at all levels.
3- Freedom of expression.
4- Opening the space to the younger generations and supporting them.
5- Work tirelessly towards the excellence of implementing qualified education systems.
6- Gender equality.
7- Working tirelessly to prevent leadership and civil conflicts.
8- Democratic systems.

And for the big guys with white collars sitting their on the wealthy perches if you really want support efforts towards sustainable development why don’t you work tirelessly to wards;

1- Fair trade.
2- Release debts away from the developing countries.
3- Gathering the international efforts to prevent civil conflicts.
4- Support developing countries to improve their health and education systems.
5- Free labour transfer.
6- Free access to knowledge and information.
7- Standing against the black markets of weapons.

At the end of my long comment I would like to say the words of Henry Miller he mentioned in the Books of My Life.

“In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest."


Abdallah Sobeih
Alexandria - Egypt

Dialogue 21: Youth Dialogue on Mutual Respect
Young women and men of 35 Euro-Mediterranean countries start dialogue about cultural and religious differences
(15 February – 31 August 2006)

Most Europeans were taken by surprise in witnessing, since January 2006, world-wide anger and protest among Muslim communities against publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in several newspapers. On the other hand, many Muslims and other citizens of Arab countries witnessed growing interest of Europeans in learning more about sensitive issues of Islam. The present crisis in North-South relations indicates a huge gap in mutual knowledge, especially between Europeans and their Muslim neighbours around the Mediterranean Sea. This situation calls for new forms of dialogue which clearly address differences and diversity between cultures and religions and promote more mutual knowledge and respect.
The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, based in Alexandria, Egypt, launched a six months youth campaign on mutual respect between cultures and religions in 35 countries. The Foundation invites young people between 18 and 25 years to submit their proposals on overcoming the present crisis. All participants are free to ask questions to young people from anther country of their choice. The Anna Lindh Foundation will provide each participant with answers and comments from a young man or woman from the other side of the Euro-Mediterranean region. All questions and answers will be published, and all proposals will be submitted to the 35 Governments of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
The 100 young people contributing the best questions, answers and proposals will receive awards as “youth messengers for dialogue between cultures and religions”. They will be invited to a youth workshop for further developing their ideas in teamwork.
Dr. Traugott Schoefthaler, Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation: “While the older generations ask themselves why countless dialogue initiatives have largely failed, it is high time to listen to young people. We invite young women and men to express their values, fears and visions. We want to establish a true youth dialogue especially on cultural and religious differences, on human dignity and mutual respect.”
Arabic, English and French are the three languages of the “Dialogue 21” campaign. Participation is open until 31 August 2006. Further information: www.euromedalex.org, under “Dialogue 21”.
The Foundation is the first common institution of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership established in the South and jointly financed by all 35 partner countries (25 Member States of the European Union and their ten Mediterranean Partners). It started operations in August 2005. Core mandate of the Foundation is “learning about cultural diversity” and promoting mutual respect.
How to participate?
Invited to participate are young citizens between 18 and 25 years of age from the following countries:
A: European Union:
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom,
B: Mediterranean Partner Countries:
Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey.
Download the participation form (http://www.euromedalex.org/En/dialogue21-EN-form.doc)
Submit the filled in form before 1 September 2006 to our mailbox dialogue21@euromedalex.org.
You will receive immediately a receipt. All forms received before the end of a month will be processed in the following four weeks.


Arabic and French versions are available on the main website which is http://www.euromedalex.org/En/dialogue21.htm

12-14 Mars 2004
Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Avec le concours des organismes suivants :
Académie arabe des Sciences et des Technologies
Conseil arabe des Affaires
Organisation des Femmes arabes
Forum pour la Recherche économique
Organisation arabe des Droits de l'Homme

Introduction
1. Les participants à la conférence intitulée « Les réformes dans le monde arabe : visions et mise en oeuvre » se sont réunis à la Bibliotheca Alexandrina, à Alexandrie, du 12 au 14 mars 2004. Cette conférence s’est tenue en coopération avec des représentants de la société civile du monde arabe. Les participants ont discuté des éléments de réforme indispensables au développement des sociétés arabes. Les débats ont porté sur la nécessité et l’urgence de conduire avec détermination une réforme qui émane de l’intérieur de la société arabe et réponde aux aspirations des peuples, en vue d’aboutir à un projet de réforme global. Elle doit couvrir les domaines politiques, économiques, sociaux et culturels. Ce projet de réforme doit s’adapter à la situation particulière de chaque pays et se concevoir dans un cadre général duquel se dégagent des traits communs à tous les pays arabes. Il s’agit de permettre à chaque pays d’entamer ses propres réformes, tout en renforçant la présence des pays arabes sur la scène internationale et de lutter contre leur isolement. Ce projet de réforme doit renforcer la coopération au niveau régional, pour faire du monde arabe un acteur plus influent sur le plan international.

2. Les réformes à entreprendre sur le plan intérieur ne doivent pas empêcher de rechercher une solution pour le règlement des problèmes régionaux, tels qu’ils se posent actuellement. Le règlement juste et équitable de la question palestinienne représente une priorité. Il doit s’appuyer sur les accords internationaux qui prévoient l’existence de deux Etats
3
indépendants, dotés chacun d’une autorité pleine et entière et de libérer les territoires occupés. Il est également nécessaire d’assurer l’indépendance totale de l’Irak et le respect de son intégrité territoriale. Il faut par ailleurs débarrasser le Proche-Orient de la présence d’armes de destruction massive et résoudre les conflits territoriaux par des voies pacifiques. Ces questions ne doivent pas constituer un prétexte pour une intervention étrangère dans les affaires intérieures du monde arabe ou le placer de nouveau sous domination étrangère.

3. L’histoire et la culture des peuples arabes, la vision qu’ils expriment de leur avenir amènent les participants à la conférence à condamner tout acte de terrorisme, quelle qu’en soit la forme ; à traiter des conséquences néfastes de toute espèce de fondamentalisme religieux ; à incarner les valeurs de la tolérance et de l’interaction créative des cultures et des civilisations.

4. Les peuples arabes ont acquis au cours de leur longue histoire une expérience qui leur permet de contribuer à formation de la civilisation universelle, de s’organiser pour gérer leurs affaires et de procéder à la réforme de leurs situations

http://www.arabreformforum.org/French/index.htm

12-14 March 2004
Bibliotheca Alexandrina


In Collaboration with:
Arab Academy for Science and Technology
Arab Business Council
Arab Women’s Organization
Economic Research Forum
Arab Organization for Human Rights

The Alexandria Declaration, 12 - 14 March 2004, “Issues of Reform in the Arab World”

Introduction,
Participants in the “Issues of Reform in the Arab World: Vision and Implementation” conference, organized by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in collaboration with civil society institutions in the Arab world, met from 12 to 14 March 2004 to discuss the reforms needed to develop Arab societies. The participants stated that they are fully convinced that reform is a necessary and urgent matter, that it stems from within Arab societies and that it should address the aspirations of the people to develop a comprehensive reform project, covering political, economic, social and cultural aspects. This project should allow addressing the individual situation of each country while fitting within a general framework that highlights features shared by Arab Societies. This should allow each society to push forward its own reforms, while avoiding isolationism. It should also lay a strong foundation for regional cooperation that would forge a more positive and functional Arab entity on the international scene. 2. However, internal reform should not divert our attention from dealing with pressing regional issues on our agenda. At the forefront of these issues is a just solution for the Palestinian problem based on international resolutions that provide for the establishment of two independent and genuinely sovereign states, the liberation of occupied Arab territories and the recognition of the independence and territorial integrity of Iraq. In addition, the Middle East should be declared an area free from weapons of mass destruction. All territorial problems should be resolved peacefully without external interference so that these problems do not provide an excuse for foreign intervention in the affairs of the Arab region, which would put it once again under foreign tutelage. 3. The people of the region, by virtue of their history of civilized behavior and in keeping with their vision of a promising future, emphatically condemn terrorism in all its forms, reject all modes of religious fanaticism, and seek to embody values of tolerance and creative interaction between cultures and civilizations.
4. Arab societies have the maturity and historical experience that enable them to contribute to our common human civilization, and are, indeed, capable of taking charge of their affairs and reforming their internal conditions; while interacting fully with the outside world and its many experiences of reform, in accordance with a list of specific priorities.

For more informaiton please visit this site: http://www.arabreformforum.org/English/Index.htm

ICT and Development


Monthly Indicators September 2003


• Communication & information Technology
o Number of established IT Companies (943 Companies)
o Capital issued ( 1844 Million)
o Capital Investment ( 3116.9 Million)
o Labor Force (27759 Job opportunities)


Monthly Indicators July 2003


• Communication & information Technology
o Number of established IT Companies (922 Companies)
o Capital issued ( 1830.4 Million)
o Capital Investment ( 3099.6 Million)
o Labor Force (27429 Job opportunities)
Ministry of Communication & Information Technology – Egypt- October 2003


The above stated monthly indicators are just a sample of the progress of communication and Information Technology in Egypt with a range of two months, these are just some statistics in quick glance showing some of the progress in the Egypt’s Information Society Initiative, which is a proof for one of the real applications of development towards establishing an information society which was is one of the Egyptian national goals since 1999.

Creating an information society is a major priority for the Egyptian government. Through it, the government hopes to give every individual, business and community, the opportunity to harness the benefits of the new information world. But this guide us to an important question which is for how far can information and communications technologies (ICT) achieve a major outcomes and reliable contributions in development specially in developing countries? There is no doubt that the amount of information about the uses of ICT has been more obvious and grown enormously during the last few years, this beside the international trend of international organizations towards ICT as the World Bank’s new approach to development is based on the assumption that “Poor countries – and poor people – differ from rich ones not only because they have less capital but because they have less knowledge” (World Bank 1999:1). Thus, a lack of knowledge causes markets to collapse and children to die of diarrhea. When poverty is the result of lack of knowledge or the right kind of information, so development is the result of economic growth, which requires a solution to the problem of the lack of knowledge, this gives us a beam of light on the role of knowledge in development processes which is the result of new understanding about the relationship between economic growth and application of knowledge. As Maja Vander Velden mentioned in the paper presented at the “Third International Conference on Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication 2002” in Montreal, Canada; “this assumes that knowledge is neutral, manageable commodity that can be shared freely and easily, and that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can provide the appropriate tools for accessing, archiving, transferring and communicating information and knowledge. In this approach, the onus is on the timely transfer of knowledge from where it is available to where it is needed, hence a focus on the sharing and management of knowledge ”.
So now we agree about the importance of knowledge and its management but how to achieve this and how much will be the bills of the developing and least-developing countries to achieve this, to talk about this from one of the developing countries this requires to build on information society and continues work towards bridging the digital divide, which must be applied by drawing out a comprehensive framework that lays the foundations for information society in few years as to match the running of the whole world in ICT, this framework requires national plan to achieve several objectives. Some of these objectives is building telecommunications infrastructure, hundreds of information centers, an expanded pool of IT has to be created, and information systems and databases to be established among governmental, private and civil society organizations. In parallel each developing country has to put in consideration the aim behind developing an information society which is to build and develop an ambitious information society and establish a strong oriented industry to integrate in the new global economy change businesses processes, the functioning of government and the relationship among citizens, businesses and the government, to advance the economy and bring about prosperity and new opportunities. To apply the management of knowledge in the information society framework, this requires three major pillars, namely making information technology accessible, providing the applications that will make an information society possible and promoting the export potential of the industry. This framework should revolves around some main issues, like the electronic access, which entails that all citizens should have easy and affordable access to the opportunities by new technologies. Should also stress the importance of increasing awareness and availability of ICT and making it affordable, to do that the governments have to pledge that to expand state – of – the – art communication services all over their states, providing equal opportunities to access, and insure the sustainability of this. The governments should create a leading industry on the national levels and developing investments in the telecom industry.

This framework should also aims at providing improved services for the citizens through a huge E-government project, which means a modernization of the governments’ operations as well as access to information and transparency. This also requires developing the education systems and promoting for the e-learning, making an initiative towards E-Businesses aims at boosting economic growth with the creation of new technology-based firms. Improving health systems, putting the ICT applications to serve the environment … etc.

Now we get back to our question which is “how much will be the bills (costs) of the developing and least-developing countries to achieve this!”; obviously and personally I’m not an expert to decide how much exactly will be this, but I’m ending this article by some words written by Dr. Richard Curtain in his paper entitled “Information and Communications Technologies and Development: Help or Hindrance?” – he said that “ - Great but as yet unrealized potential of ICT in development -Modern information and communications technologies hold great potential for helping developing countries to overcome the tyranny of distance, they able to do this by providing low cost and accessible means for many people to communicate easily. However how best to do this is still an open question. The benefits of any new technology stem from how it is applied”.


Abdallah Sobeih
Alexandria, Egypt.
October 2003