DUBAI -- OECD Secretary General Donald Johnston urged rich nations on Tuesday to play a more active role in helping poor countries improve their access to digital technologies to boost commerce and investment.

Johnston told the opening session of the OECD emerging markets economy forum on electronic commerce that the already huge digital divide, or the gap in information technology between developing and developed countries, has doubled in the past three years.

"Not only is the world unsustainable in the long run with billions of people condemned to poverty, but expanded trade and investment opportunities for OECD members will depend upon sustainable economic growth and social stability in every region of the globe," he said.

"One might call this enlightened self-interest," he added.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development chief said in October that the number of Internet hosts to population was higher in North America than in Africa by 540-1, double the ratio in 1997.

Participants and analysts said concerns over the impact of the growing digital divide would dominate the two-day conference organized by the Paris-based OECD and hosted by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said this gap could threaten world security.

"The widening of the knowledge gap is denying most developing countries the opportunity of true participation in the new global economy," said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also UAE defense minister.

"When we speak of a one world, one global economy and one international media city, we should also remember that security in the world is also indivisible," he added.

Sheikh Mohammed is seen as the driving force behind Dubai's ambitious bid to position itself as a hub for Information Technology (IT) in the region, which sits on more than half of the world's oil.

Delegates said OECD's choice of Dubai to hold its first E-commerce forum outside a member state, was an indication that the organization of mostly industrialized countries recognized the emirate's potential to spearhead a regional transformation to it technologies.

Last year, Dubai launched Internet city, the region's first it free zone, and Dubai ideas oasis, an it incubation and venture capital community.

Sheikh Mohammed called for setting up an international body devoted to assist governments and private firms in developing countries to bridge the technological gap.

Participants said governments in developing countries should also reform their economies, allow a free flow of information and cut telecommunications costs, which are confining Internet access to the elite.

(Reuter)