Monsieur le Président de la Commission nationale française pour l'UNESCO,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our world thrives on diversity! From the myriad range of cultures and peoples who inhabit our planet, to the extraordinary multiplicity of the natural world, we depend on diversity. Language and the diversity of languages that co-exist are the life force behind our knowledge of this world. We need words to express what we mean, what we feel and to communicate what different generations leave to those who follow. We need our languages too so that we can recreate the future, develop new knowledge and communicate it to other people. We need multilingualism because we are living a time of freedom of expression, of globalization of communications and of realization that every language is a different form of expression of human identity and, more important, human dignity. All languages are to be regarded as the heritage of humanity, essential not only for access to knowledge but also for the development of understanding among peoples and dialogue for peace. As you are aware, there are few countries in today's world in which only one language is spoken and the promotion of multilingualism contributes to the safeguarding of our approximately 6700 local, national, regional, minority and endangered languages, many of which are today in great danger of disappearing.

My own language, Icelandic, could have been one of these. The oldest living language spoken in Europe, the language of the sagas and the middle ages, Icelandic is often called the Latin of the North. But unlike Latin it still flourishes today. And it does so because it is used -- not only to preserve the past but to enable us to embrace modernity while allowing us to rejoice in those differences that set us apart from our fellow Scandinavians and the rest of the world.

This diversity is what languages are all about. They give us our identity: we think in a language, we create in a language, we express our deepest emotions in a language. But if we want to communicate all these things to others and, perhaps even more importantly, share what others think, create and feel we must make the effort to learn other languages as well. Diversity is the root of curiosity and curiosity is the root of knowledge and communion with the wider world.

Never before in history have we had at our disposal such a powerful opportunity to reach this communion. The information society has placed the entire planet on our doorstep ' if we have and use the means to participate.

The issue here, it seems to me, is thus two fold: it is educational and political.

Educational in the sense that there must be a commitment to promoting multilingualism in our children from the very earliest age. We must make sure that there is the time and the materials to inculcate the love of other languages (and by definition, other cultures) in our youngsters. We have all observed families where the children grow up speaking several languages as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And for those privileged few it is just that. You do not have to prove to them that it is useful and necessary, they know it instinctively. And this is what we have to foster in all our children, by adopting the curricula and furnishing the tools for them to exercise their natural curiosity and ability.

The political question is thus key, for the critical next step concerns access. And access means both technology and freedom of information. You cannot make your language heard in cyberspace and listen to other languages if you do not possess the tools and the instruments to access the Internet. Nor can you do so if your routes to cyberspace are crowded with roadblocks.

For a language to live it must be used and must be deemed useful. And in today's world that means it should be present in cyberspace where it can create communities for those who may live in far flung places but who share a common tongue, and where it can find new adepts and reach out to those who have never had the possibility to discover it. Our role at UNESCO is to help provide the stimulus for this to be achieved.

I should like now to express my deep gratitude to the French National Commission for UNESCO and to the Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie for having organized this very important colloquium on "Language Diversity in the Information Society ". I hope that this colloquium will lead to concrete actions in favour of multilingualism in cyberspace for all.

Thank you.