``We talk a lot about South-South cooperation, but practice it too little,'' Mr Annan pointed out at a special session, `Closing the Digital Divide,' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Hyderabad on Saturday.

``We are particularly concerned about the growing gap between the information-haves and -have-nots,'' Mr Annan said.

According to Mr Annan, the state monopolies are charging exorbitant prices for the use of bandwidths, while some countries have no legal and regulatory frameworks and lack the trained workforce to take on the IT path. These obstacles will cause ``a real danger that the world's poor will be excluded from the knowledge-based global economy,'' he said. To counter this growing problem, the United Nations has now decided to implement the recommendations made by the Information and Communications Technology Task Force established under the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Mr Annan said.

Further, the United Nations has initiated a high-tech volunteer corps - known as UNITeS - to train the people in developing countries in the uses and opportunities of IT, in which India is a major partner. This apart, India has taken up the Health InterNetwork of UN, which will use the Internet to provide information for public health, he added.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made a `power point' presentation on the government's initiative in the IT and social service sectors. He said in a period of about six to 12 months, the government will offer about 25 per cent of the government services through Internet to the people of the state.