U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry convenes a meeting on the Global Connect Initiative, which seeks to bring 1.5 billion people who lack Internet access online by 2020. Secretary Kerry will urge international development banks to recognize the Internet as an essential element of every country’s infrastructure – as the World Bank has already done. The Global Connect Initiative hopes to create enabling environments that spur connectivity and also entrepreneurship, cross-border information flows, and open and competitive marketplaces.

 

Why now?

• In today’s world, access to, and use of, the Internet for the world’s citizens and businesses is an essential part of development – similar to roads, ports, electricity, and other infrastructure.  But it is not yet treated as such by public policy and industry leaders outside of the technology and telecommunications community.  We need to elevate the prioritization of connectivity if we are to achieve globally broadly shared prosperity.
  
  
• As President Obama noted at the launch of ConnectHome in July, the “Internet is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.  You cannot connect with today’s economy without having access to the Internet.”  That is true not just here at home but everywhere.
  
  
• The U.S. Department of State has launched Global Connect to bring new actors into the effort to connect the world including the development community and leaders outside the technology telecommunications sectors.  The GCI will do that by promoting and supporting action from key stakeholders, including governments, industry, civil society, and the technical community, to help bring an additional 1.5 billion people online by 2020.  Under this initiative, every partner country or stakeholder contributes what they can and coordinates their efforts with others to bring us towards these goals, be it infrastructure technology, good regulatory practices, or financial or technical support.
  
  
• The economic impact of internet connectivity in developing countries highlights the urgency for this initiative.  For every 10% of a developing country you connect to the internet, you have a corresponding 1-2% rise in GDP.