December 7th, 2007  Mr. Minister, Mr. Major, Mr. Prefect, Mr President of the County Council of Hunedoara, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here today and join the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, the Prefect, and the county and commune officials in the launch of the Local Community electronic Network (LCeN) in Baru . As expressed during the first LCeN launch last month in Giurgiu, I would like to commend the Project Management Unit for its able implementation of the Knowledge Economy Project (KEP) and Romtelecom and Sysware, the companies supplying and installing the equipment and infrastructure. The World Bank is a long friend and supporter of the Hunedoara county, through several interventions: the rehabilitation of the Unit 3 of the Deva Thermal Power Station, the aerial photography of the Jiu Valley area (the Cadastre project), the closure and site rehabilitation of coal mines, the mining towns infrastructure rehabilitation (Dâlja under Mine Closure I, the mines of Aninoasa, Livezeni, Valea de Brazi), the establishment of two Adult Training centers in Deva and Hunedoara (Social Sector Development project), the e-taxation system in the six Jiu Valley cities, and has also established a model for bio-conservation management planning in the National Park of Retezat. But let me return to today’s event: the LCeN is a computer network serving to provide information as well as services benefiting the local authorities, schools, public libraries, citizens and small businesses. It is supporting the county of Hunedoara in nine localities where such networks are being installed, Salasu de Sus and Baru are being launched today, while, another one in Aninoasa is successfully functioning since 2006. A total of 255 networks, spread over a large number of communities in the whole country are being installed and ready to function by the end of December, this year. This project is not only about computers. It is about improving the lives of citizens in many ways, from education, to access to information of funding sources for community projects, to better and more transparent public service delivery for citizens. The Knowledge Economy Project (total cost 70 million US$, loan 60millionUS$) is a very innovative Government project supported by the World Bank, the first of its kind in Romania, also the first of its kind approved by the World Bank. More specifically, the Knowledge Economy Project will help in four key areas: First, the establishment of 9 pilots + 246 newly selected Local Community e-Networks (LCeNs) in 255 disadvantaged communities; Second, the Government would strengthen the effectiveness of digital literacy preparing Romanian teachers and children for modernized teaching and learning techniques and for the skills required by the single European market economy. Third, the project would finance the full-scale implementation and deployment of government e-services such as to facilitate the citizen and business' interactions with the administration. Fourth, the project would support the SMEs from targeted areas to implement e-business solutions in their operations.
For Romania, now a member of the European Union, access to and use of knowledge and new information technologies is an important part of its integration process and of catching-up with the living standards of the member states. Access to information and IT technologies is changing the way the world is working and leading to huge productivity improvements and providing employment opportunities where it was not thought possible a few years ago. The same is happening to Romania, and a key objective of the project is to make sure it happens everywhere in Romania so that the benefits from growth are shared by all. Instead of witnessing the migration of the youth to bigger cities or to more developed foreign countries in search of better paying jobs, we can create these opportunities here, in Romania, in Sălaşu de Sus and Baru. By participating in the Knowledge Economy Project and establishing these networks, I can also see a major benefit for the local authorities who will have a chance to build capacity and gain experience in management and implementation of such projects and become familiar with project procedures. In view of the EU structural funds allocated to Romania, this type of experience will prove instrumental in helping local authorities apply to/and manage structural funds. Let me conclude by saying that gaps in benefits from the information society should not exist between one region or another, between urban and rural, between the haves and have-nots, men and women, the young and the elderly. Information means opportunity and empowerment for all, and coupled with the right use of technology it offers a powerful key to improve our circumstances. Empowerment comes from access to information. This is now true in Sălaşu de Sus and in Baru as it is for other 254 communities and 1.8 million people in Romania and anywhere else where access to information already exists. Thank you.
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