Nairobi — The Commowealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has singled out Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as vehicles for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the chief executive officer of CTO, said bridging the digital divide and building an information based society is the most effective way of enhancing the realisation of the millennium goals - reducing the alarming global poverty levels by a half by the year 2015.

Spio-Garbrah further indicated that ICTs are an essential tool for promoting sustainable development.

To this end, he said, Communication ministers across the continent including Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana and Mauritius are set to meet in Nairobi between March 25 and 26, 2004 for a two-day IT conference.

He said the aim of the scheduled conference sponsored by a host of corporate giants in the communication industry including The Standard Group is to discuss how to implement the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Action Plan adopted last December 2003 in Geneva.

"Now is the time, especially for developing countries to define how their ICT development goals and targets can best be determined and achieved," Spio-Garbrah said in a statement.