Bill Clinton, in one of his first public appearances since
stepping down from office, kicked off Oracle Corp.'s AppsWorld event in New Orleans
Monday, calling on IT companies and governments to work together to bridge the
digital divide.

His speech came at a time when the nation is questioning his pardon of fugitive
financier Marc Rich and Rich's business partner, Pincus Green. As is traditional
with U.S. presidents, Clinton issued the pardons just hours before he left office
on Jan. 20. Rich is on the run after being indicted on charges of tax evasion,
fraud and illegal oil deals with Iran. Rich's ex-wife, Denise, made substantial
contributions to various Clinton campaign concerns in the past, fueling speculation
of a link between the contributions and the pardon -- speculation that Clinton
vehemently denies.

Perhaps bearing in mind the controversial nature of the speaker, Oracle chief
executive officer Larry Ellison introduced him as the president who, early
in his tenure, pushed for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

In his speech, Clinton claimed that NAFTA brought prosperity for the Mexican
people as well as a political revolution that has made Mexico "more democratic."
Only the opening of trade and technological barriers will lead to improved economies
and genuine democratization, Clinton emphasized in his speech.

IT is key in the process, he said, describing himself, to laughter from the
audience, as a technological illiterate who, in his youth, said "chips
were what you ate and discs were in your spinal column."

As proof of the important role of IT, Clinton described a milk cooperative
run by women in rural Rajasthan, India, one of the world's poorest regions.
Using a computer and a database, the women keep records of deliveries and customers,
thus making them one of the richest milk producers in the state.

He watched as an Indian woman carrying her baby in her arms walked into a village
health center that was equipped with a Web-ready computer and downloaded a child-care
manual that rivalled the quality of advice provided by expensive health-care
experts in the U.S.

The trick is to ensure wide penetration of the Internet into homes around the
world. But statistics show that this is a long way off for the majority of the
planet. An Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) report found recently that in
Asia, there will be a 72 percent Internet penetration rate in the eight wealthiest
nations of that region.

In contrast, the 11 poorest would only see an 11 percent penetration rate.
Race and gender were also strong factors in determining whether or not people
had access to the Internet.

Clinton said he believes that high availability of Internet access could be
the deciding factor for a nation's competitiveness. The U.S. and Finland enjoy
some of the highest standards of living, and correspondingly, more than half
of all their households have Internet access.

The Internet helps such countries keep their competitive edge over rich countries
like Japan, which is technologically advanced but has low Internet penetration
rates. Clinton said a key difference was in the liberal telecommunication and
Internet markets in the U.S. and Finland, as compared to Japan, which has only
recently begun to deregulate those sectors.

A similar deregulation scenario in China, which is joining the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and which has seen its Internet usage jumped exponentially
from 2 million to 20 million users in just 2 years, would benefit not only U.S.
companies taking part in that boom, but also bring greater freedom to the Chinese
people.

Clinton further called on the U.S. government to invest more in IT skills training
and research and development.

Clinton, who bought his first online Christmas present 2 years ago from a Native
American Web site, said: "It is insulting to say that poor people have
to choose between penicillin and Pentium."

Computerworld

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