Dear Sir,

Information technology will continue to exert an ever-increasing influence on the social and economic progress of our society. I am personally determined that France shall benefit to the utmost from current developments and take a full part in the worldwide growth of the Internet. For our country there is a lot at stake in this game, economically, industrially and culturally, but France does have some valuable trump cards to play.

Since taking charge of the information technology sector, I have ensured that certain measures be taken in order to accelerate the expansion of the Internet and speed up increased access to online services throughout French territory, for example : Internet may now be accessed for the cost of a local phone call, the linking together of educational institutions on the net has been speeded up, government services have almost all acquired a presence on the Internet, legislation regarding encryption of texts has been eased, in order to stimulate the development of online commercial enterprises and the legal status of Internet providers has been clarified.

However there remains much to be done in order to promote the use of the Internet nationwide, and to increase the number of services in the French language which are offered on it.

For this reason, I have decided to grant sponsorship to your initiative, "1996 World Internet Exhibition", whose aim is to present the Internet to as wide an audience as possible, and to establish on the Internet a showplace for the most important cultural events taking place in France.

I wish you well in this enterprise of yours, Yours sincerely,