§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will set out the conclusions arising from the G7 conference on information super-highways.
§ Mr. Ian TaylorI represented the Government at the G7 conference on the information society in Brussels from 24 to 26 February. Ministers discussed three broad topics—regulatory issues, infrastructure issues and the social and cultural impact of the information society—on the basis of a theme paper prepared by the European Commission.
The conference adopted a series of positive conclusion reflecting a variety of United Kingdom priorities.
These emphasise the importance of:
- promoting dynamic competition,
- encouraging private investment,
- defining an adaptable regulatory framework,
- providing open access to networks,
- while ensuring universal provision of and access to services,
- promoting equality of opportunity to the citizen,
- promoting diversity of content, including cultural and linguistic diversity,
713 - recognising the necessity of worldwide cooperation with particular attention to less-developed countries.
The G7 undertook to:
- promote interconnectivity and interoperability,
- develop global markets for networks, services and applications,
- ensure privacy and data security,
- protect intellectual property rights,
- co-operate in research and development and in the development of new applications,
- monitor the social and societal implications of the information society.
I am placing copies of the theme paper, the conclusions and my main intervention in the Library of the House.
The conference made a welcome commitment to the importance of reaching a successful conclusion to the World Trade Organisation negotiations on basic telecommunications by April 1996. I was also glad that United States Vice-President Gore announced to the conference the United States' intention to reform its legislation which currently restricts foreign investment in certain United States telecommunications services, which the Government have been pressing the United States to change for some time. I noted that the United States Government have indicated that they would expect reciprocity, but this is not likely to be a problem for United Kingdom industry.
The conference also agreed to launch 11 collaborative pilot projects to demonstrate the potential of the information society. The Government will be taking an active role in the implementation of these projects, as part of a process of demonstrating how the new technologies can benefit society as a whole.
The conference was preceded by a round table discussion by business leaders from the G7 countries, who strongly advocated one of the central themes of my speech to the conference—the importance of light and flexible regulation and liberalisation of telecommunications infrastructure as spurs to enable private sector investment to realise the benefits of the information society.