当前经济全球化不断发展，科学技术突飞猛进，为新世纪全球经济和社会发展提供了前所未有的技术条件。尤其是信息通信技术的发展，深刻地改变着人们的经济社会和文化生活方式。 一方面，信息化为经济发展和社会进步提供了难得的数字机遇，而另一方面它也给我们带来了各

下面你将听到的是一段有关全球经济发展的讲话。
    The ongoing economic globalization and rapid advances of science and technology have generated unprecedented technological conditions for global economic and social development in the new century. In particular, the development of information and communications technologies has been making tremendous impact on our economic, social and cultural life.
    On the one hand, informationization presents valuable " digital opportunities" for economic growth and social progress. On the other hand, it presents various challenges to us. Many countries are taking active measures to push the development of information technologies and the information industry in an effort to accelerate national informatization processes.
    However, the development of information industry worldwide is seriously unbalanced. The gap between the rich and the poor in enjoying the benefits of and utilizing information resources and information technologies is widening instead of narrowing,  putting the developing countries in a more disadvantageous position.   This will inevitably further aggravate the social and economic disparity between the North and the South.
    Narrowing and ultimately eliminating the " digital divide" is a major issue to be addressed in the process of building the information society. Otherwise, we could not be able to attain the goal of sustainable, sound and coordinated development of the global information society.
    Weak information infrastructure has become a major reason for the gap between developing and developed countries and has seriously impaired the developing countries’ ability to build information society.   Therefore, we shall put emphasis on exploring the strategic goals for developing countries to accelerate their information infrastructure build-out.
    These strategic goals may include: government macroeconomic control and market regulation policies, information regulation system in line with national conditions, sound relationship between technological development and market growth, avoiding market risks, innovative financing mechanisms for more financing channels, etc.
    In the future information society, knowledge and skills will be a major driver for economic growth and one of the major contributors to the sustainable development of the information industry. One of the main reasons for the gap between developing and developed countries in information technologies is the lack of knowledge and human resources, which is a key issue to be considered in bridging the "digital divide".
    So we shall consider establishing innovative mechanisms for human resources development and explore ways to improve human resources development on the basis of the existing training centers and training resources as well as the Internet so as to enhance the awareness of information technology.
    Moreover, bridging the "digital divide" requires joint efforts of all countries around the world. Developed countries in particular shall truly shoulder their responsibilities in helping the developing countries accelerate their informatization processes and narrowing the "digital divide".
    Concrete actions shall be taken, on the basis of the principles of mutually beneficial cooperation, to offer active assistance to developing countries in the form of financial support, technology transfer and human resources training, etc.