Comisión Presidencial sobre los Objetivos del Milenio y el Desarrollo Sostenible (COPDES)

San José, Costa Rica (7 December 2007)


The Dominican Republic, which currently holds the Vice-Presidency of the Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) – the prestigious institution headquartered in the city of Geneva, Switzerland – delivered a formal  invitation to become a founding member of the DSF to Dr Oscar Arias Sánchez. The invitation was signed by the newly elected President of the Fund, Dr Alain Madelin.

This invitation is part of the Digital Solidarity Fund’s strategy to extend the benefits of its work to the Latin American and Caribbean region. The Fund formalised this strategy with the recent election of a representative of the Dominican Republic as its Vice-President.

The DSF is promoting an innovative funding strategy, which has been called the “1% digital solidarity” principle, designed to reduce poverty by narrowing the digital divide.

Being a founding member gives member countries and cities access to technical assistance, through financing projects geared towards reducing the digital divide and promoting Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), with a view to speeding up achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The Dominican Republic was the first founding country from Latin America and the Caribbean and has recently been joined by a second founding member country from the region, Cuba. This month, December 2007, is the deadline for becoming a founding member of the Fund, which was created following the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Africa, in 2005.

Founding cities include Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Lyon (France) and Geneva (Switzerland), among others.

President Arias was presented with the invitation by the Vice-President of the Fund, John R Gagain Jr, during an event at EARTH University in Guácimo de Limón, Costa Rica.