Industrial round table on the globalization of communications
On the initiative of European Commissioner for telecommunications, Mr. Martin Bangemann, industrialists from all over the world attended a round table in Brussels on 29 June 1998. The aim of this event was to discuss the need for strengthened international coordination in the context of the emergence of a global economy. The participants were all in agreement that strengthened dialogue and coordination are necessary between the public and private sectors, due to the fact that diverging laws and policies prevent the realization of the full economic, social and cultural benefits of this globalization. The most important issues identified by the industrialists concern matters such as taxes, tariffs and intellectual property. During the conference, the launch of a new international platform for dialogue between industrialists on subjects linked to global communications in the context of the Information Society, the Global Business Dialogue (GBD), was announced. They also proposed to set up a pilot committee, which would be responsible for the first GBD conference, which will take place during the first half of 1999. Mr. Bangemann concluded that the results of the round table were very positive, and that the challenge posed to resolve legal and technical uncertainties which impede the development of a global economy was responded to very positively. On the GBD he stated that it "would ensure the development of a coherent approach on a global scale between the public and private sectors, which would maintain the coexistence of self-regulation by industry and regulatory solutions, so that policy decisions would remain in tune with technological developments".