ITC at WSIS 2005: 
Bridging the Use Divide 
14th November 2005
Room Zaghouan, 09.00 - 17.30  

 

As part of WSIS, the CBI and ITC jointly organized workshops on the 14th and 15th of December. 

The prime objective of these joint ITC-CBI initiative was to promote e-trade and business dimensions of the Digital Economy and bring the voice of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of developing countries into the global ICT policymaking during the World Summit on Information Society. 

The programme of the workshop scheduled for 14 November 2005 concentrated on the theme of “Bridging the Use Divide”.

The Use Divide
The proliferation of ICTs all over the world shifted national and international agendas from emphasis on “Digital Divide” to “Access Divide” and finally it was realized that there should be equal emphasis on the “Use Divide”. 

Research findings provide evidence that still the use of ICTs among the SME community, even in the most “e-ready” economies is low. 

ITC’s e-Trade Bridge Programme for SMEs addressed the “Use Divide” by showcasing its experience in building capacities and training SME managers to enable them to make decisions on when, how and how much to use ICTs and how to integrate the ICTs dimension into their strategies using the tools and materials developed under the programme.

	Inaugural Session
09:00	Welcome - Monsieur le Bâtonnier Abdelwahab Bahi, Président
09:10	Opening Remarks  Ms Nadia el Ouahdani, CBI, Programme Manager, Institutional Development
09:20	The Road from Geneva  J. Denis Bélisle, Executive Director (ITC)
	Opening Session: Addressing the Use Divide (EMDS)
09:30	“e” at ITC R. Badrinath, Director, Division of Trade Support Services (DTSS)
09:40	Addressing the Use Divide O. Atac, Chief, Enterprise Management Development Section (EMDS) Click here for the presentation (HTML)
	Session 1: E-nabling Enterprises: Facing the Divide (EMDS)
10:00	Understanding the Gap: Why my customers cannot make a decision about “e”  Khaled Qtaishat, Compubase International, Jordan Click here for the presentation (HTML)
10:15	African Leather: Being able to Decide Where and When to Use E-solutions, Adelphi, The Leather Shop Ms. Nalina Rupani, Managing Director (enterprise perspective)
10:30	Facing the Use-Divide: E-nabling SMEs to Use E-solutions Andrew Otsieno, Teknosell, Kenya (e-solution provider perspective) Click here for the presentation (HTML)
10:45	Consequences of the Use-Divide on the IT Industry Karim Sy, OpenSys, Senegal (industry perspective)
11:00	Question and Answer Session/Group Discussion
	Session 2: E-enabling the Business Environment: Conducting Secure Transactions (BAS)
11:15	Electronic contracting: What it means when you click “I agree”  Dr. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law Click here for the presentation (HTML)
11:30	How SMEs can cope with insecurity:  Privacy, data protection, spam & spyware
11:45	Where in the World? Resolving e-business disputes
12:00	Question and Answer Session/Group Discussion
13:00	Break for Lunch
	Session 3: e@work: Bridging the Divide (EMDS)
15:00	Putting “e” to work in an Import Promotion Organization Martin Bitter, CBI Click here for the presentation (HTML)
15:20	HP MAP Overcoming the Use Divide Didier Philippe, Director, Social Investments
15:40	The Other Side of the Divide: “e-Waste”  Nicolas Boehmer, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA)
15:55	E-Trade Bridge Programme and Plans for the Future Gultekin Ozaltinordu, Programme Manager, E-Trade Bridge Click here for the presentation (HTML)
16:10	Panel Discussion and Recommendations for Action
17:30	Depart