(November 16) Workshop 207 - Ensuring Continued Investment and Digital Growth in a Climate of Global Economic Challenges

This workshop focused on steps that were either being considered or should be considered by various stakeholders in the current global economic climate. An interesting presentation by the OECD highlighted some issues such as current policies in the ICT industry, priority areas for some organizations and green ICTs. It was shown that there is a disparity between Northern and Southern Europe in terms of priority areas for ICT investment. It was also mentioned that there is a new wave of ICT global restructuring. Many programmes surveyed by the OECD showed that energy consumption was the primary way of "Greening" ICT.

It was acknowledged that measurement and evaluation was difficult due to the nature of the data being gathered.

Stimulus packages to aid in continued investment and growth were mentioned. A key factor emphasised was the removal of levies on ICTs by various governments worldwide. This was considered extremely important. It was also mentioned that investors want predictability and do not invest in economies where infrastructure is not reliable. Bilateral agreements should be negotiated dealing with ICTs in relation to the GATT agreements.
Emphasis was also placed on public-private partnerships and the use of international best practices.