This morning, the 2nd Meeting of the Global Alliance on ICT and Development got underway at the Intel Headquarters in Silicon Valley. Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel opened the session saying how historic it was for the GAID to be meeting in Silicon Valley. Since Silicon Valley is known for getting things done (instead of talking), all are hoping that the GAID will be able to focus on getting things done. He talked about the innovative model of the GAID with no funding being provided by the UN, and the very small permanent secretariat. He called the GAID a “Pay to Play” organization, and that “if you don't pay, you can't play,” and that “this is the Silicon Valley model. Following this opening announcement, and a video-taped welcome from the new ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hammadoun Toure, the new Secretary General of the ITU gave an interesting opening speech talking about the recently held World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC) in Doha and the Doha Plan of Action. The Doha Plan of Action contains five new programs and 25 new regional initiatives (five from each of the five regions). He recognized that there are more important players than are in the room, and that there is significant commitment to these issues from both the developed and the developing countries. I'll report more on this meeting as it progresses. One note; to my knowledge, there are no mechanisms whatsoever for remote participation in the meeting.
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Derrick,
Looks like YOU will have to be our “remote participation tool.” I'm dying to hear about how Silicon Valley approaches the IG issues.