Kagame meets Gordon Brown over broadband

USA - PRESIDENT Paul Kagame yesterday met with former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Dr Hamadou Toure of ITU as well as officials from various institutions involved in technology and development. They met to discuss how to build on the work of Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which just delivered its report to the UN Secretary General. Brown was earlier this month elected to the Board of Directors of the World Wide Web Foundation established by the founder of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-LeePresident Kagame outlined how broadband can boost development initiatives, made recommendations on how to take the work of the Broadband Commission forward, and pledged continued partnership and support to realizing the objectives of the group. Participating in the meeting, Dr. Judith Rodin, President of Rockefeller Foundation, spoke about the work of Open Medical Records Information Systems currently ongoing in Rwanda. Others in attendance at the meeting included Sir Tim Berners Lee, Mo Ibrahim, a member of the Broadband Commission, Dr. Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala, MD at the World Bank, and Paul English, American businessman and founder of popular travel search site Kayak.com. The meeting committed to advance the work of the broadband commission by mobilizing required financing as well as assisting nations to implement broadband policies and use the power of the web to deliver critical and relevant content and applications in education, healthcare, commerce and other key sectors. Earlier in the day, President Kagame attended the opening session of the UN MDG Summit, and held separate bilateral meetings with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Yves Leterme of Belgium. President Kagame was also a guest at a luncheon hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. President Kagame is scheduled to address the MDG Summit today. Ends

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Kagame meets Gordon Brown over broadband