Today and tomorrow, November 22 and 23, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is hosting the 3rd European Union/Latin America/Caribbean Ministerial Forum on the Information Society.
The symposium, which was organized by the Brazilian government and the European Commission, represents a continuation of forums held in Seville, Spain, in 2002, and Lima, Peru, in 2003.
The gathering has the support of the European Commission Program and technical and institutional backing from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA).
The ministers plan to discuss the possibility of the various countries’ establishing a common perspective on the potential of information and communication technologies as instruments of social cohesion.
They will also study ways to foster inter-regional cooperation in this area.
These objectives are summed up in the theme of the 3rd Ministerial Forum in Rio: “Partnership for social cohesion through digital inclusion.”
This will be the keynote of the dialogue among the Latin American, European Union, and Caribbean governments present in Rio de Janeiro.
But they will also deal with other matters, such as policies and regulatory issues related to the information society, as well as initiatives involving the first pan-Latin American research and education network – known as Clara – and its direct interconnection with the pan-European network, the Géant.
Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein