[FYI] Bill Gates bei Prodi: "paper-free governments"

["Axel H. Horns" <Horns@t-online.de>]

[Vielleicht will Herr Gates ja ein Kooperationsabkommen mit der EU 
schliessen: Sonderrabatte, wenn alle EU-Amtsstuben MS verwenden und 
alle InfoSociety-Fortbildungsmassnahmen der EU auf dem MSIE 
aufsetzen.  ;-)                                            -AHH]

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Romano Prodi meets Bill Gates


 DN: IP/99/736     Date: 1999-10-12


     TXT: EN
     PDF: EN
     Word Processed: EN

IP/99/736 

Brussels, 11 October 1999 

Romano Prodi meets Bill Gates

European Commission President Romano Prodi met today with Mr Bill 
Gates, chairman and Ceo of Microsoft.  

Mr Gates was accompanied by Mr Bernard Vergnes, chairman of Microsoft 
EMEA, Umberto Paolucci, vice-president of Microsoft Corp., John 
Frank, law and corporate affairs Europe, and Mrs Marie-Thérèse 
Huppertz, European corporate affairs manager.  

The general purpose of the meeting between Mr Prodi and Mr Gates was 
an exchange of information and views on recent developments in the 
field of information technology, the use of the Internet as a 
commercial, cultural and educational tool, and the role of 
information technology in creating new jobs and fostering economic 
growth.  

Specific themes of the discussion were the information society's 
potential to enrich the way citizens work, learn and play, the 
shortage of skilled labour, and the importance of life-long learning 
for workers and citizens.  

Mr Prodi underlined the Commission's commitment to launching a major 
initiative aimed at fostering information technology literacy among 
secondary school European students.  

Mr Gates gave Mr Prodi an illustration of Microsoft's activities in 
Kosovo, where Microsoft has offered to supply personnel and 
technology for the creation of ID cards for refugees, in 
collaboration with the UN.  

Specific attention was devoted by Mr Prodi and Mr Gates to the way 
public administrations work and to the prospect of creating of "paper-
free governments". Mr Prodi, in particular, illustrated his own 
experiences in his home town, Bologna.  

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