A/RES/56/64 B U NITED N ATIONS PUBLIC INFORMATION POLICIES AND ACTIVITIES The General Assembly, Reiterating its decision to consolidate the role of the Committee on Information as its main subsidiary body mandated to make recommendations to it relating to the work of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, Concurring with the view of the Secretary-General that public information and communications should be placed at the heart of the strategic management of the United Nations, and that a culture of communications should permeate all levels of the Organization, as a means of fully informing the peoples of the world of the aims and activities of the United Nations, in accordance with the principles and purposes enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, in order to create broad-based global support for the United Nations, Stressing that the primary mission of the Department of Public Information is to provide, through its outreach activities, accurate, impartial, comprehensive and timely information to the public on the tasks and responsibilities of the United Nations in order to strengthen international support for the activities of the Organization with the greatest transparency, Expressing its concern that the gap in the information and communication technologies between the developed and the developing countries has continued to widen and that vast segments of the population in developing countries are not benefiting from the present information and technology revolution and, in this regard, underlining the necessity of rectifying the imbalances of the global information and technology revolution in order to make it more just, equitable and effective, Recognizing that developments in the information and communication technology revolution open vast new opportunities for economic growth and social development and can play an important role in the eradication of poverty in developing countries and, at the same time, emphasizing that it also poses challenges and risks and could lead to further widening of disparities between and within countries, Stating that the present developments and rapid changes in the field of information and communication technology have a tremendous impact on the functioning of the United Nations and the Department of Public Information in particular, which may necessitate suitable adjustments in the manner in which the mandate of the Department is implemented, Noting other initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide, including those by the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the Digital Opportunity Task Force of the Group of Eight Nations and the Group of 77 South Summit, Recalling its resolutions 50/11 of 2 November 1995, 52/23 of 25 November 1997 and 54/64 of 6 December 1999 on multilingualism, and emphasizing the importance of making appropriate use of the official languages in the activities of the Department of Public Information, seeking to reduce the gap between the use of English and the other five official languages, 3