Concerned that the world’s poorest are missing out on the benefits of internet connectivity, the UN convened a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva (May 16-20) to discuss how the internet can help address the UN’s eight anti-poverty goals known as MDGs (Millenium Development Goals) by 2015.

In his address to the forum, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that “through e-learning, e-health, e-government, climate monitoring and more, today’s and tomorrow’s technologies will help bring the MDGs within reach.”

According to International Telecommunications Union (ITU), one of the sponsors of WSIS, nearly 30% of the population of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) now have access to voice and data connectivity compared to 1.2% a decade ago.

Internet penetration however remains low, ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré agreed and said the next major step “must be to repeat the ‘mobile miracle’ for broadband Internet.”  He said that a lot of progress has been made in broadband investment and infrastructure but said “the digital divide remains difficult to bridge”.

More than 1,000 representatives from 140 countries are expected to attend the week-long event jointly organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP.