UN-ESCWA, represented by the Chief of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division Youssef Nusseir, and Alcatel-Lucent, represented by Vice-President Thierry Albrand, will hold a press conference at the Jordanian Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Amman at 12:30 pm on Wednesday 28 February 2007. This press conference is intended to launch a joint publication entitled “Broadband for Development in the UN-ESCWA Region: Enhancing Access to ICT Services in a Global Knowledge Society”. The study is the latest outcome of the ongoing cooperation between UN-ESCWA and Alcatel-Lucent in the field of ICT for development which began in early 2005 and resulted in a number of joint activities.

The study is intended to build a regional framework for broadband deployment in the UN-ESCWA region both as a contribution in line with the outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society, and as part of UN-ESCWA’s Regional Plan of Action for Building the Information Society. Furthermore, it will provide guidelines for ICT policymakers with respect to infrastructure development at the national and regional levels.

The event will include a visual presentation on the means of harnessing broadband technologies for socioeconomic development in the region.

The United Nations Information Centre in Beirut urges the media to devote to this press conference the attention it deserves.