On the World Bank and SWANsat
The
African Union needs a 21st century equivalent to the post-World War II
Marshall Plan, and SWANsat can be that plan if the banking bureaucrats
will let it happen. We composed a
letter, dated 1 July 2007 and delivered to the World Bank's new president
Robert Zoellick, regarding how this might be so. We also sent him a white
paper dealing with the subject of how SWANsat could serve as a modern
Marshall Plan for the African Union.
 Download
a PDF copy of
our letter dated 1 July 2007 to Robert Zoellick.
Download
our White Paper:
A Modern Marshall Plan for the African Union
Financial
Times article:
Why Africa Needs a Marshall Plan
Download
a PDF copy of
the letter to Robert Zoellick with all these attachments.
As noted in
our white paper
Shareware Telecommunications,
the
SWANsat
System provides what is
arguably the first
economic model for bridging the digital divide to LDC's and DC's through
very low cost (about EUR€1/month) delivery of high speed broadband
internet anywhere in the world. The
Shareware Telecommunications
model accomplishes this without debt to LDC's, DC's, or to other emerging
nations.
As a result of
our letter to Dr. Zoellick, we were invited to address a committee
composed of several World Bank Group executives. On 19 July we sent a
pre-meeting letter to Ken Lupberger at the World Bank in preparation for
the conference.
Download
a PDF copy of
our letter dated 19 July 2007 to Mr. Lupberger.
The letter to
Mr. Lupberger contained a draft copy of our proposed landing rights
Memorandum of Understanding for participation by the African Union in
SWANsat. Then we visited the World bank. Every single executive with whom
we met—all of them—expressed extreme pessimism about SWANsat.
Then, in
October 2007, just before we left the United States to attend the Connect
Africa Summit, Dr. Zoellick addressed an assembly of all 185 member
nations of the World Bank, where he provided a public commitment to where
he wanted the World Bank to be over the next few years. So on 23 October
2007 we sent Dr. Zoellick another letter in which we outlined our concerns
regarding the difference between what HE said versus what HIS TEAM said at
our meeting:
Download
a PDF copy of
our letter dated 23 October to Dr. Zoellick.
On 12 November
the World Bank responded through Dr. Zoellick's representative Mr. Mohsen
Khalil, Director of the Global Information and Communication Technologies
Department.
Download
a PDF copy of
Mr. Khalil's fax received by us on 15 November.
Mr. Khalil's
letter appeared to us to represent a not-so-covert attempt to rationalize
the behavior of the group of executives who had met with us during the
summer. So we rebutted Mr. Khalil's letter, providing what the diplomats
might call a "frank exchange of views".
Download
a PDF copy of
our rebuttal letter dated 17 November to Mr. Khalil.
Then we sent a
copy of our rebuttal letter to Dr. Zoellick.
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Relating SWANsat to ODA
|
Gross National Product
Contributions to ODA |
|
Norway
Denmark
Luxembourg
Sweden
Netherlands
Portugal
Belgium
France
Switzerland
Ireland
UK
Finland
Germany
Canada
Australia
Spain
Austria
Greece
New Zealand
Japan
USA
Italy |
0.87%
0.85%
0.83%
0.78%
0.73%
0.63%
0.41%
0.41%
0.41%
0.39%
0.36%
0.35%
0.28%
0.27%
0.25%
0.24%
0.23%
0.23%
0.23%
0.19%
0.17%
0.15% |
With respect to
Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments, on 24 October 1970,
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2626 (XXV) was passed. The
resolution included a provision that:
 Each
economically
advanced country will progressively increase its official development
assistance to the developing countries and will exert its best efforts to
reach a minimum net amount of 0.7 per cent of its gross national product
at market prices by the middle of the Decade.
 The United
States reaffirmed its 0.7% GNP contribution commitment earlier in the
present decade as part of the
Monterrey Consensus. Nevertheless,
the fact remains that today the United States of America contributes only
about 0.17% of its GNP at market prices—less than 25% of its original
commitment. As the statistics listed to the right demonstrate,
the United
States is nearly last on the list... We propose that
SWANsat
be made
an Official Development
Assistance Project, with the provisioning nation underscoring this
commitment by providing a fiscal incentive for businesses and citizens to
participate in bridging the digital divide through their domestic taxation
policies. By doing so, governments will not have to increase their ODA ICI/ICT
sector budgets to meet their ODA objectives. If, for example, a new
taxation law stated that for every $1 received by an approved charity
specifically for the SWANSAT project, the donor receives a multi-dollar
tax credit and/or a tax-deducible receipt, then the additional value added
would represent the difference between the face value of the donation and
the actual value of the SWANSAT system, inevitably impacting the
calculation of the nation’s overall ODA contribution.
How to Double America's ODA
Contribution
As noted in
our white paper
Shareware Telecommunications,
the
SWANsat
System provides what is
arguably the first
economic model for bridging the digital divide to LDC's and DC's through
very low cost (about EUR€1/month) delivery of high speed broadband
internet anywhere in the world. The
Shareware Telecommunications
model accomplishes this without debt to LDC's, DC's, or to other emerging
nations.
 We
are proposing that appropriate federal legislation be passed that
authorizes the SWANSAT
Shareware Telecommunications model to be utilized as a vehicle to
boost America’s ODA contribution from its current levels. When fully
deployed and operational, as much as USD$2 billion per month of
post-launch revenue has been pledged by SWANSAT to be contributed toward
bringing inexpensive ICT to LDC’s and DC’s—via monthly grants amounting to
as much as 99% of the cost of service account subscriptions to citizens
and residents of these countries. We want to see these contributions
credited to America’s annual ODA commitment. Since America’s ODA for
Fiscal Year 2006 was about USD$25 billion, if SWANSAT funding
contributions are credited toward America’s ODA requirement, America’s ODA
contribution will effectively double—from 0.17% GNP to nearly 0.34%
GNP—all without any actual additional funds coming directly from the
Treasury of the United States of America.
American
businesses who participate as vendors to the SWANSAT System will benefit
from their participation because the funds that they would otherwise have
paid in federal taxes will be used to further their own business
interests, keeping their employees working and giving the participating
vendor the right to claim corporate credit for helping to bridge the
digital divide. Antecedent to launch, up to USD$2 billion per year can be
added to America’s ODA contribution figures if the proposal outlined below
becomes part of the federal tax code. We suggest that specialized
legislation will be needed that will accomplish at least the following
objectives:
a. Authorize
federal tax credits for individuals and businesses who provide services
and goods as described below toward financing the SWANSAT System.
b. Allow
federal tax credits (i.e., deductions from all federal taxes due, not
deductions from taxable income) for all goods and services provided to
SWANSAT’s spacecraft vendor IOSTAR Corporation for design, construction,
launch, deployment, and ongoing operation of the SWANSAT System.
c. Allow
similar federal tax credits at the level of the manufacturer’s full
suggested retail price (MSRP) for all end user handsets, receiver sets,
and other earth segment hardware devices that are provided by the SWANSAT
Holdings, LLC charitable beneficiaries for distribution to governments,
businesses, Non-Government Organization (NGO, i.e., non-profit
organizations), and citizens of LDC’s and DC’s and to those who provide
Non-Government Organization-based charitable services to those citizens.
d. Allow
similar federal tax credits at the level of the manufacturer’s full
suggested retail price (MSRP) for all delivery services provided by
international shippers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.) who contribute their
services to deliver end user handsets, receiver sets, and other earth
segment hardware devices for use by governments, businesses, NGO’s, and
citizens of LDC’s and DC’s and to those who provide NGO-based charitable
services to those citizens.
e. Allow
similar federal tax credits at the level of the producer’s full suggested
retail price (MSRP) for all ICT programming services provided by internet
service providers and satellite-delivered video and audio programming
services providers, who contribute their services for subsidized delivery
to governments, businesses, NGO’s, and citizens of LDC’s and DC’s and to
those who provide NGO-based charitable services to those citizens.
f. Authorize
all funds described in the paragraphs above to be claimed by the United
States as Official Development Assistance, since the value of these
services, as well as operational surpluses from SWANsat services delivered
to citizens of G8 nations, will be directly applied toward delivery of
low-cost ICT broadband to LDC’s and DC’s. (Without such authorization, the
Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] has no
authority to apply funds contributed to America’s ODA contribution.)
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Bi-partisan Appeal?
The proposed
legislation can appeal to Republicans because it has the effect of
lowering federal taxes by allowing tax credits to reduce the contributor’s
federal tax bill. And, it can appeal to Democrats who like the idea of
America doubling its current ODA payments. Republicans might like the
proposed legislation because it links American businesses to the first
effective economic model yet devised to bridge the digital divide, thus
giving them some social responsibility bragging rights. Come to think of
it, maybe Democrats might like it for that reason, too. Accordingly, we
might be able to craft a rare, but plausible bi-partisan cooperation to
see this legislation through to becoming part of the federal tax code.
Here's our letter dated 28 January 2009 to Senator Dianne Feinstein that
discusses this issue:
On
Bi-Partisan Cooperation in Economic Recovery through passage of SB 2433
Reports, Transcripts, and
Publications
UN
Report:
Monterrey Consensus Report
UN
Report:
Building on Monterrey
UN
Report:
Secretary-General's Preliminary Report on Monterrey
Also, on 8 June 2005, Sony Kapoor
gave testimony before the
House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade
and Technology. What Mr. Kapoor had
to say bears directly on the use of
the
SWANsat
System as a means to meet
America's ODA
commitment to provide 0.7% of its GNP to help LDC's and DC's.
Publications
by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
—
OECD analysis:
2006 ODA Data (coming soon)
—
OECD analysis:
2005 ODA Data
—
OECD memorandum:
Is it ODA?
—
OECD report:
Statistical Reporting Directive
—
OECD report:
List of OECD
Recipients of Official Development Assistance
OECD's
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Publications Relating to Security
—
DAC Handbook on Security Reform
—
DAC Security Policy Briefing
—
DAC Security
System Reform
Specific Links
to OECD
—
OECD web:
Home page
—
OECD web:
Development
Aid from OECD Countries Falls in 2006
—
OECD web:
How to Determine ODA Eligibility
Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) Members' net ODA
1990-2006 and DAC Secretariat simulations of net ODA to 2010.
|
