Developing countries should not use the digital divide as an excuse to relax efforts to catch up with the information technology revolution, according to a senior official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Herwig Schlogl, deputy secretary general of the OECD, said developing countries should instead make greater efforts to nurture human resources by cooperating more with developed countries.

"Development assistance will not prevent the digital divide unless the elite in developing countries realize the challenge and realize their responsibility in educating their people," he said in a recent interview.