How do you plan to place ICT in reaching ADBs goal of poverty reduction?
Boom: ADB recognises the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) to fight poverty and foster development in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2002, the ADB approved a sector policy encouraging innovations in ICT and learning technologies. Despite the fact that millions of people do have access to ICT and the Internet, for billions it is still out of reach. That needs to be changed. The development community needs to ensure that all the benefits ICT can bring are accessible to as many people as possible, particularly in the developing world. The development community must find ways to protect people from the more harmful aspects of ICT, while ensuring that it is governed in a way that ensures freedom of access to information and freedom of expression. The digital divide, throughout the years, has increasingly widened among countries, regions and social networks at a time when the technology should have served as a factor of integration. To effectively reduce the digital d
