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Information and communication management - the decisive tool for development
by Seniorl Anzu (22/09/09)
The management of information and communication and the sharing of knowledge and resources is of decisive importance in the Pacific, said Ambassador Wiepke van de Goot, European Union Head of Delegation for the Pacific.
Ambassador Wiepke said this is so not only in response to major challenges such as climate change, increasing complex trade rules, migration, brain-drain, pressure on natural resources and HIV/AIDS but also to help rural communities and farmers in the Pacific to benefit to the largest extent possible from the opportunities that arise out of the countries' richness in primary products and agricultural commodities like cane sugar, coconut products, cocoa beans and coffee.
Ambassador Wiepke made the statement in Nadi, Fiji, on September 14 2009 when addressing participants of a regional workshop on information and communication management policy and strategy in the pacific. More than 30 representatives from 14 different Pacific Island Countries and Territories attended the four-day workshop, conducted by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
“Although information and communication technologies have developed in an unprecedented manner during the last decades, many ACP actors, especially farmers, still have limited access to appropriate and timely information which could improve their production capacities and their market access at local, regional and international level,” said Ambassador Wiepke.
He said knowledge-sharing and information management are an element of a comprehensive rural development policy, along education and good governance. “Information and communication management is the decisive tool that links together all initiatives. It is the focal point of rural development, without which the other policies would not be efficient.” Ambassador Wiepke said rural areas were most affected by insecure livelihood opportunities, with three-quarters of the world's poor estimated to live in rural spaces.
“This persistence of rural poverty is a major challenge for the development community as a whole and a moral obligation for all of us.
“But rural development and agriculture must also matter to us because of its crucial importance for the food security of expanding urban populations, the conservation of globally valued resource functions and landscapes and the climate change adaptation and mitigation process in the next decades.” Ambassador Wiepke also thanked CTA and SPC for their common effort to share knowledge and improve rural livelihoods in the Pacific, adding that “knowledge grows when it is shared”.