MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Billson
The Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Bruce Billson, today announced a new Australian contribution to helping fight poverty in the Asia-Pacific.
'The Australian Development Gateway is an innovative website that delivers practical Australian development expertise to people in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world,' Mr Billson said.
'The website aims to provide the international development community with instant access to Australian experience in a range of areas vital to helping people in the region improve their social and economic potential and overcome development challenges.
'Through the Australian Development Gateway people can gain information about governance, agriculture, education, water, health and communication technologies.
'The invaluable voluntary support of Australian organisations and suggestions from people throughout the Asia-Pacific, have created a high quality and extremely relevant website for those in developing countries who can benefit most from the Gateway .
'More than 700 free resources are available on the website, including case studies, reports, toolkits and publications. The Australian Development Gateway also has information about job and business opportunities and contacts for people and organisations working in development,' Mr Billson said.
'The Australian Development Gateway aims to save people time, effort and money and improve the effectiveness of poverty reduction efforts in a region where nearly 700 million people live on less than $2 a day.
'By promoting poverty reduction and sustainable development, Australia is helping improve the lives of our neighbours and making a major contribution to the growth, stability and security of our region,' Mr Billson said.
A key project of the Virtual Colombo Plan, which is a joint initiative between Australia and the World Bank, the Australian Development Gateway is the first such website to be developed by an OECD country and will operate in a network of more than 50 other country gateways.
To learn more about the Australian Development Gateway and its Australian partners please go to: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/adg
Media inquiries:
Shane Fairlie (Mr Billson's office) 02 6277 4879 or 0408 680 442
Jo Elsom (AusAID) 02 6206 4960 or 0412 804 489