The technology gap between poor and rich countries remains a major barrier to easing world poverty, officials said at a U.N. forum on trade and development.
Poor countries said they can't afford better technology when they are already struggling to fix crumbling roads, feed the hungry and vaccinate children.
"Even the academic literature on information technology suggests that it is only applicable to industrially developed countries," said President-elect Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic. "We have to change that."
The weeklong United Nations Conference on Trade and Development brought together trade and development officials from around the world. Some heads of government, mostly from Latin America, also attended the forum, which ends Friday.
UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero said technology advances are one of the biggest challenges for the developing world, with funding a huge problem.
"I believe the acquisition of technical knowledge is more important to development than raw economic growth," he said.
Delegates said governments and aid groups should work together to channel more money to projects aimed at boosting technology in poor countries.
Without technology advances in developing countries, rich countries where almost everyone has a computer and Internet access will continue their domination of global trade.
"The name of the game is access, access, access," Juan Carlos Solines, director of Ecuador's digital government project, told delegates Thursday.
"No one must be left behind. Every community must be included, even the most remote Amazon village," Solines said.
However, some aid groups say many countries, particularly in Africa, are so far behind that providing them with computers doesn't make sense.
Those countries need the basics: electrical power, steady sources of water and rudimentary technology to improve their farming production. Even if Internet access is provided to remote African areas, illiteracy is a huge problem.
"What people in low-income communities need is the development of their own technology," said Andrew Scott, programs and policies director of the Intermediate Technology Development Group.
The British-based charity helps villages in Kenya harness power from streams using small turbines and generators.
It also teaches farmers in Sudan how to make plows from scrap metal - replacing the primitive hoes they traditionally use to plant sorghum and millet.
Ricupero cited his native Brazil as a developing country making good use of technology, noting the recent introduction of electronic voting machines in national elections.
In Sao Paulo people who don't have a computer at home - and only 10 percent of Brazilians do - can attend free computer centers where they learn to send e-mail, write resumes and cruise the Web.
Many forum events over the last week focused on how poor countries can get better access to the markets of their richer counterparts, but Ricupero said the elimination of a digital divide is even more important than reducing global trade barriers.
"Among all the factors that can contribute to the competitiveness of developing countries, I can think of none more important than information technologies," he said.Associated Press Online:
