e-Development Thematic Group/GICT

In partnership with

& The Finance and Private Sector Development Unit, South Asia Region

Presented a

Book Launch and Dissemination Seminar of Two Volumes

             

On Tuesday, January 15, 2008; 12:00 - 2:00 pm ET
Location: J1 - 050 & Live Webcast
(701, 18th Street NW, corner of 18th St. and Pennsylvania Ave)

Opening Remarks
Praful Patel, Vice President, South Asia Region, World Bank

 Keynote Address
Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka

Moderator
Simon Bell, Manager, Finance and Private Sector Development, South Asia, World Bank
 
Presenter
Nagy Hanna, Author; Senior Research Fellow at University of Maryland; former senior advisor at World Bank

Comments
Philippe Dongier, Manager, Communication and Information Technology Policy, Global ICT Department, World Bank
Manju Haththotuwa, Former CEO of Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka; Senior ICT Policy Specialist, World Bank

Concluding Remarks
Dhanendra Kumar, Executive Director, Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; and Sri Lanka, World Bank

Event Photos

Event Video

Program Description

How should countries harness the ongoing ICT revolution to create new development strategies and accelerate the development process? How can developing countries take advantage of the opportunities for outsourcing and the globalization of services? How can poor countries make  access to ICT affordable and sustainable to the majority of population? How can ICT be deployed to transform government services and make public agencies more client-centered? What kinds of innovation systems can promote the application of ICT to serve local needs, rural areas and the poor? And what does it take to build institutions to lead the movement towards ICT-enabled competitive economies and inclusive information societies?  
 
The two volumes respond to these challenges presenting a concrete case study of how one country is bridging the gap between vision and actionable programs. E-Sri Lanka is an integrated, client-driven program and the first of its kind to be funded by the World Bank. It is about investing in the necessary policies, institutions, capabilities, infrastructures, and information technology  applications for a poor country to join the global knowledge economy, transform public services,  and empower local communities.

About the e-Development Thematic Group

The e-Development Thematic Group is powered by GICT in collaboration with ISG, WBI, PREM, and other partners. Visit us at http://www.worldbank.org/edevelopment to download materials for this and all previous e-development seminars (over 100 since Sept 2003). To join our mailing list, please write to edevelopment@worldbank.org.

About the InfoShop

The InfoShop is the public information center of the World Bank and serves as a forum for substantial debate on international development. Our extensive events program consists of more than 250 events over the past two years and has hosted many internationally recognized speakers including Queen Noor, Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey Sachs, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Friedman, and Carly Fiorina. The InfoShop functions as the only publicly accessible space at headquarters and provides internal and external audiences with over 15,000 titles published by the World Bank, international organizations, and other publishers on development issues. For more information, visit: www.worldbank.org/infoshop. Comments about the events program: http://go.worldbank.org/TDG9T8O9K0