Speaking before the ministers of the hundred or so States represented at the Paris Conference, President Chirac interceded in favour of innovative mechanisms for development. The Fund was there to present the «one percent for digital solidarity» principle.

The objective of the ministerial conference in Paris (28 February to 1 March) was to strengthen the consensus to implement innovative financial mechanisms as part of the Millennium Development Goals. Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, stressed the importance of the international community’s acknowledgement for «the need for solidarity».

It is idle to imagine that the wealth engendered by globalization can benefit the most disadvantaged nations without recourse to redistribution measures. To achieve the objectives for 2015 set by the United Nations, public aid for development needs to increase to 200 billion dollars per year, against a figure of 65 billion dollars today. «In the face of such a challenge, traditional public aid to development is insufficient», Jacques Chirac declared in his opening speech. The solution is to create new financial mechanisms that make it possible to mobilize some of the fruits of globalization.

Invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Douste-Blazy, and the Minister of the Economy, Mr Breton, the global Digital Solidarity Fund participated at the Paris Conference to present its financial mechanism. The DSF encouraged public authorities to adopt in their calls for ICT related goods and services bids the digital «solidarity commitment », trough which each transaction would include a one percent contribution. This sum, which is paid by the vendor, is destined to community projects designed to reduce the digital divide.