Page 10 - Teleduca

The Manaus Tele-Education Symposium also recognized that in developing countries, the
State has an extremely important role to play in promoting a comprehensive national tele-
education program that draws together various government sectors (eg, education,
telecommunications, science and technology), the private sector and international
organizations. International organizations in turn are in the best position to engage in a
special effort to make governments aware of the importance of developing and implementing
national tele-education policies which call on all social partners to participate.
Similar conclusions were reached by a working group of an ITU international conference on
"Creating new leaders for e-Culture” (http://www.itu.int/ITU-
D/hrd/events/coventry/conf01/index.html), held in Coventry, United Kingdom, in August
2001.
Promoting and developing tele-education is a major commitment for ITU. In addition to
organizing the above- mentioned events, ITU maintains e-learning platforms (Virtual Training
Centre or VTC) and projects to promote and organize remote courses (Global
Telecommunication University or GTU, and Centres of Excellence or CoEs), which are
referred to in this publication. ITU is also organizing the United Nations World Summit on
the Information Society, to be held in 2003 and 2005, which will feature tele-education very
prominently.
Thus, the importance and timeliness of the Book of Tele-Educ ation in the Americas cannot be
overstated.
I should like to conclude by thanking all those who have contributed to the preparation of this
book, particularly Mr. Héctor Carril, Chairman of the Working Group of the CITEL
Permanent Advisory Committee on Basic and Universal Telecommunication Services, and
the expert Mr. Juan José Cataldo for the excellent quality of his work.

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