WORLD CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SOCIETY

Motif: Integrated circles with the sign "at" One of the fundamental rights of men is the right to information. The resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations points out that one of the key roles of the UN is precisely the continuous activity on the improvement of the right of access to information, as well as the right of exchanging knowledge about modern communication technologies. Taking into consideration the importance of information and communication in the society, the International Telecommunications Union initiated the organization of the conference dedicated to information at the world level. Owing to the fact that the post is the oldest form and way of information transfer, the Universal Postal Union joined this initiative. The conference will be held in two parts. At the first part, “The world conference on information in the society”, held from December 10 – 12, 2003 in Geneva, the “Declaration on civil society” was carried, in which the demand of the participants was accepted for a information society that will primarily be adapted to people’s needs. The other conference will take place in Tunis from 16 – 18 November 2005. Postal services bring people together and have been raising the quality of their lives for almost 5000 years. Considering the leading role in the improvement of postal services among its members, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) is one of the organizers of these conferences. As a matter of fact, one of the fundamental tasks of the Union is the building up and development of communication among the people, based on a successful and unhindered carrying out of postal services. The national postal operators who have been authorised by the governments of their countries to offer universal postal services on the whole territory take an important place in the transfer of information, but in the world’s economy, too. Though the contemporary information technologies make efficient and swift information and communication possible, they are, unfortunately, not equally accessible to all people. Despite the fact that the use of the Internet has expanded, for the majority of the world’s population this net of all nets has still remained a mystery. Statistics shows, namely, that out of 500 million of Internet users 80% of them are citizens of developed countries. Two out of five citizens of developed countries have access to the Internet, while the ratio in the developing countries is 1:50. And though we might be contemporaries of the virtual revolution, millions of people all over the world still have only postal services at their disposal as the exclusive possibility of achieving communication and receiving information. Though transportation of postal pieces of mail will remain the basis of postal operations for a long time, the world postal managements have assessed the advantages of new information and communication technologies, both concerning the improvement of traditional postal services and the implementation of new services where information technologies have been included. One of them, for instance, is the hybrid post that combines electronic transfer and the classic, physical mail delivery. In the same way, the global postal infrastructure, by way of their 700,000 postal offices all over the world, makes it possible that the fast development of new information technologies becomes accessible to those living in the most distant regions. The adoption of new technologies enabled the postal operators not only an improvement of postal services and their adaptation to the consumers’ demands, but also the introduction of quite new electronic services in the area of finance, e-trading, e-government, tele-kiosk... This means that these services were made accessible even to those who, owing to their poverty and/or isolation, would not be able to access them. Modern information and communication technology represents a huge potential that will exercise a powerful influence on the change of the way of living and in various social spheres. However, new technologies do not represent a “miraculous medicine” for all the information and communication “ailments” in the world. The postal infrastructural network is a necessity here without which it would be impossible to go on. Having this in mind, one should not look upon classic postal services as “services in decline”. On the contrary, even in the future they will have a significant share in the world economy and the world information society, making the sending and receiving of information (mail) from whatever place in the world possible.