Public Meeting on G-7 Ministerial Conference in the Information Society and Developing Countries

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Public Meeting on G-7 Ministerial Conference in the Information

Society and Developing Countries

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration

(NTIA) Commerce

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NTIA is convening a public meeting on February 8, 1996, to

discuss U.S. government goals and objectives for the upcoming G-7

Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Developing

Countries. The Conference is scheduled for May 13-15, 1996 in South

Africa.

The public meeting will be chaired by Larry Irving, Assistant

Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and

Administrator of NTIA. The purpose of the meeting is to brief the

public and obtain input on U.S. government goals and objectives for the

Conference.

DATES: The public meeting will be held from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on

Thursday, February 8, 1996, in Room 4830 at the U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. The

main entrance on 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution

Avenues should be used.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Elizabeth Echols, Senior Advisor,

NTIA; U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 4898; 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. 20230. Telephone: 202/482-

1304; Fax: 202/482-1865. E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the G-7 Ministerial Conference on the

Information Society held on February 25-26, 1995 in Brussels, the G-7

Ministers reached consensus on the fundamental principles underlying

the development of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII). During

this Conference, Executive Deputy President of South Africa, Mr. Thabo

Mbeki, invited the G-7 partners to South Africa for a

telecommunications ministerial conference on development issues.

Ministers from approximately 40 developed and developing countries,

including the G-7 countries, are expected to attend the Conference.

Although the Conference will be conducted at the ministerial level, the

private sector is expected to play an important role. Preliminary plans

indicate that the private sector, government representatives, and

selected international organizations will address the needs and

challenges of the developing world through Conference workshops

designed to initiate concrete actions. In addition, it is expected that

the private sector will have the opportunity to demonstrate the

potential of information technologies and services to address issues of

interest to developing countries through a technology exhibition.

The United States delegation will be led by U.S. Secretary of

Commerce Ronald H. Brown.

Dated: January 25, 1996.

Larry Irving,

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.

[FR Doc. 96-1815 Filed 1-30-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-60-P