reginav posted on June 20, 2012 22:57
In the past few weeks, Mexico, a country quickly emerging at the forefront of technology, has been actively involved in many initiatives for the promotion and development of ICTs. Some of these key activities are highlighted below.
On the 11th of June 2012, the Mexican business magnate, philanthropist and the richest man in the world Carlos Slim visited the United Nations to lecture about "How are New Technologies impacting Business and changing the World?" The founder of Carlos Slim Foundation shared his insights and discussed the impact of new technologies on the world of business and our lives, and their role in achieving the goal of universal access to knowledge and in creating equal opportunities for all. In addition to being the Chairman and CEO of major telecommunication companies, Mr. Slim is also the Co-Chair of the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development. His lecture which was focused on technologies and their role in promoting development was organized by UNOG and UNITAR with the support of the ITU and other partners, was part of the Seventh Edition of the Geneva Lecture Series. The lecture was broadcast live on the UN webcast and can be accessed at: (www.un.org/webcast).
2012 also marks an important year for Mexico as the host of the G20 Summit. Mexico represents the first Latin American country to host the event and the second emerging country to show its commitment to the overall success of the summit. This summit is one of the most important mechanisms for bilateral institutional dialogue and is a privileged space to promote and strengthen political consensus and economic exchanges at the highest level, as well as cooperation between countries. According to reports leaders for the summit have already began to assemble in the country to discuss the uncertain fate of Europe and economy .
In terms of the promotion and development of ICTs in the region, initiatives have been undertaken by the Mexican government to improve accessibility and reduce the digital divide. For instance, the E-Mexico portal platform (www.emexico.gob.mx) aims to increase coverage of digital content and services and to develop content focused on reducing the digital divide in the country. Through this platform, the public will have access to digital content and services designed to strengthen and support social welfare programs of the Federal Government, especially programs related to learning, health and government.
In addition to this, the Secretary of Communications and Transport (SCT) has introduced the National Digital Inclusion Campaign to promote youth and adult access to new technologies. This initiative also seeks to address the digital divide and promoting access and use of Information Technologies. Similar to this, the ‘Digital Technology Club’ was created with the aim of enabling young people to develop ICT skills. This represents an online platform for the development of technological entrepreneurship skills and the ultimate goal is to create more opportunities within the labor market through the use of technological tools.
CapaciNet (http://www.capacinet.gob.mx/) is another portal that has been developed by Mexico to develop content and applications that promote social competency training. The focus of this project is to ensure that standards and technology platforms to meet the demands of different social groups and to promote the use of technologies for skills development in order to strengthen personal, professional and community competences of Mexicans. Other programs that have been implemented to reduce the digital divide in Mexico include ‘Compuapoyo’ which targets a segment of the population with lower incomes and reduces differences in access to and use of information technologies. Through this initiative, the Federal Government intends to promote digital literacy in the population.