Alain Madelin, former French Minister, has been elected as the new President of the DSF. At his side are the two newly elected Vice Presidents: Nnenna Nwakanma and John R. Gagain.

n Tuesday 6 November 2007, a new President was elected to the Global Digital Solidarity Fund, for a term of three years. At the 3rd meeting of the DSF Foundation Board, Alain Madelin, former French Minister of the Economy and Finance, took over from Guy-Olivier Segond, who had headed the DSF since its official launch in March 2005.

In his candidacy letter, Alain Madelin outlined the three main areas on which he plans to focus. “First of all, we must convince new actors to take part in this adventure. The strength of the DSF lies in having successfully promoted the “1% digital solidarity” idea in international arenas (…). A proactive approach must be adopted from 2008, in particular with regard to businesses, to develop and promote the principle.”

He then proposed defining priority areas of action for 2008, including high speed access in the most disadvantaged regions, “which must be provided as a global public service, given its limited commercial viability but great social benefit, for example in educational or health applications”. Mr Madelin also explained that he is keen to interact more closely with financial institutions: “All too often, companies are afraid of investing in regions that they don’t consider very profitable. I’m convinced that innovative solutions (…) would make it possible to overcome these obstacles and could be tried out by the Fund.” Finally, he mentioned the concrete support that France intends to provide, with the organisation of a World Conference on digital solidarity, towards the end of 2008.

As regards the vice presidency of the Fund, it will now be shared by two representatives : Mrs Nnenna Nwakanma of Nigeria, who represents African civil society on the DSF Foundation Board, and Mr John R. Gagain, who is the Executive Director of the Presidential Commission of the Dominican Republic on the Millennium Development Goals.