The United Nations on Monday urged private businesses to help governments make information technology more accessible and affordable, especially in developing countries.
Computers and communications technology should not just be "a privilege for the rich, but a tool for the poor," U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said at a meeting of policy makers and high-tech experts.
Efforts to bridge the current "digital divide" should include linking villages to the Internet and providing cell phone technology cheaply to rural communities, he said at the launch of a U.N.-backed forum on using technology to battle global poverty and unemployment.
The forum, called the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, was approved by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April. It hopes to engage governments, businesses and civic groups to boost the use of information technology in reaching development targets.
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