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Belgium calls to pay more interest in digitalization in development policy

Xinhua, July 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) and its member states must pay more interest in digitalizing their development policies, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation of Belgium, Alexander De Croo.

De Croo made the remarks in a letter to EU High Representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for international cooperation and development Neven Mimica.

The letter was co-signed by 14 European counterparts and was sent on the eve of the week-long UN conference on financing for development, which started Monday in Addis Ababa.

The call by De Croo and his European counterparts was a follow-up to De Croo's address to the recent European Council of Ministers meeting at which he presented his position that digitalization was driver of change for development cooperation, and demonstrated the advantages of digitalization in strengthening development policy.

A recent study revealed that equal access to the Internet in developing countries has a dynamic effect on the economy and could lead to the creation of 140 million jobs, according to a statement released on Monday by the Belgian foreign affairs ministry. Endit