‘While domestic policies are needed to harness ICT for development effectively, international policies forged in multilateral institutions will increasingly define the range of policy options available to developing countries. For example, through the Doha Development Agenda, members of the World Trade Organization will consider new trade obligations governing electronic transactions. Developing country stakeholders should participate in these
negotiations to influence the development of international obligations that reflect developing countries’ ICT experiences and needs.’

From the ‘First annual report of the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force’ Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 28th April 2003.

What does this tell us in terms of the future risks that Less Developed Countries are expoused to in the light of the recent failure of the Doha talks in Cancun? To what extent can we say that policy on ICT is different from agriculture? And how can we think that if talks fail in one, will succeed in the other?

These are some of the issues which need clarifications, analysis and debate. It seems that more and more the supra-national institutions created at the end of World War 2 are in deep crisis and seem not to provide a real alternative for LDCs.

This is a call to all researchers and practitioners in this area to come together and discuss future and prospects for LDCs, their supra-national representative institutions and the risks and challenges ahead for the research as well as the donor community.