The G8 is a forum for the development of common approaches to international problems by the world's leading industrial countries.

The DOT Force initiative follows the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society adopted at the G8 summit in Okinawa, Japan in October 2000. Unusually for a G8 initiative, it includes representatives of the private sector and civil society from G8 member-countries, and of representatives from a selection of developing countries.

ICT focus:

The DOT Force established basic principles at its first meeting in November 2000:

• the DOT Force should contribute to the bridging of the digital divide while demonstrating its significance;
  
• it should secure the positive participation of non-member stakeholders;
  
• discussion in the DOT Force should be action-oriented, directly correlating to the specific actions being taken towards bridging the international digital divide;
  
• a means should be found to combine development goals with IT development (rather than the 'either/or' approach previously adopted by some agencies);
  
• the DOT Force should endeavour to fill the gaps in existing international efforts aimed at eliminating the international digital divide and make efforts to strengthen coherence.

  Programme activities:

  The DOT Force prepared a report for the July 2001 G8 summit held in Genoa, Italy. The report was prepared after extensive consultation with development agencies, civil society organizations and the private sector.

  The recommendations made in the report were endorsed by the G8 at the Genoa meeting. The full text of the report is available from http://www.dotforce.org/reports/DOT_Force_Report_V_5.0h.pdf

  At present it is not clear how much funding has been allocated to implement DOT force recommendations contained in the report.

  http://www.dotforce.org