Brunei Action Plan Endorsed
By Sonia K

Bandar Seri Begawan - Asean ministers responsible for telecommunications and information technology had gathered in the country from September 18-19 for the 6th Asean Telecommunications and IT Ministers Meeting. The following are the Brunei Action Plan agreed by the ministers:

1. Build Asean capacity, which is a vital component in enhancing ICT competitiveness by: intensifying capacity building and training programmes to facilitate cross-border electronic transactions and the use of electronic signatures, with the continued support of dialogue partners and other international organisations; enhancing capacity building activities to support the development of e-readiness and ICT masterplans of Asean member countries in 2008; pursuing the development of Asean professional ICT skills standards through knowledge sharing of best practices on various national ICT standards and certification mechanism; intensifying capacity building and training programmes for national computer emergency response teams (CERTs); supporting local content development to increase ICT usage at all levels of society in 2007; and promoting the widespread use of ICT as a tool to boost capacity building in respective Asean member countries, across all genders and segments of society, including homeworkers, beginning 2007.

2. Develop the Asean information infrastructure as the foundation for the sustainable development of an information society by strengthening the region's cybersecurity network by expanding the Asean CERT incident drills to include Asean's dialogue partners in 2007 and deepening policy and regulatory cooperation in 2007 to deal with the opportunities and challenges in the area of next generation networks, including convergence issues and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

3. Achieve broader economic and social benefits through wider access to ICT by: exploring open standards and open source technologies to increase ICT access and interoperability; facilitating affordable universal access and connectivity through using new technology, for example, wireless broadband, particularly for rural and remote communities; promoting Aseanwide online services through the development of local and Asean content and the delivery of government, social and commercial services through the Internet; and facilitating the development Asean research and education networks beginning 2007.

4. Facilitate ICT trade and electronic commerce by addressing non-tariff barriers to trade, as well as to lay the policy and legal infrastructure for electronic commerce by: welcoming more participation in the Asean MRA in telecom equipment, taking into account the recently expanded scope of the Asean MRA; sharing best practices in implementing telecommunications competition policies; fostering the preparation of domestic legislation in all Asean members to enable ecommerce transactions; facilitating mutual recognition of digital signatures to enable cross border transactions in Asean; and establishing a networking forum between Asean's and dialogue partners' businesses as a platform to promote trade and investment.

5. Exchange information on, and where appropriate harmonise, policies and regulations to increase Asean's ICT competitiveness and welcoming the implementation of the ATRC 2006-2007 work plan, particularly in the areas of: mobile number portability and international mobile roaming charges; wireless broadband deployment, including in rural areas; and prepaid SIM card registration.

6. Engage the private sector and youths by: strengthening cooperation with e-Asean Business Council (e-ABC) by facilitating high-level strategic dialogues between Asean ICT communities and Telmin; encouraging the e-ABC to play leading role in promoting Asean as an attractive region for ICT investment; and working with institutes of higher learning to establish a dedicated forum for Asean youths to address their ICT capacity building needs in areas such as applications software development, digital content development, and e-learning beginning 2007.

7. Forge links with strategic partners and key ICT international organisations to pool our resources and expertise by: deepening cooperative activities with dialogue partners, in particular China, the European Commission, India, Japan and Korea, particularly in the areas of ICT technology such as broadband, RFID, content development, standards, Internet exchanges, emerging new technologies, and in information exchange of knowledge and best practices; and continuing the engagement of international organisations like the ITU and APT through regular dialogues and collaborative projects, particularly in the areas of capacity building, especially in human resource development.

8. Strengthen our institutional foundations to achieve the programmes elaborated above by: commencing the use of the Asean ICT Fund to initiate key ICT projects in 2007, and to call upon our strategic partners to commit similar resources to these projects; ensuring effective and efficient utilisation of the Asean ICT Fund for projects of mutual benefit to all Asean countries; setting up of the Asean ICT Centre (AICTC) by March 31, 2007 to manage and administer the Asean ICT Work Programme; and encouraging the establishment of centres of ICT excellence in respective Asean member countries that could serve as test beds or proof of concept for new ICT technologies, applications and services beginning 2007.

9. Enchance ICT competitiveness and realise the above plan of action, the Asean ICT priority projects shall be implemented in 2007 which are: engaging Asean dialogue partners in Asean CERTs incidence drills (Acid II); training workshop on open document format (ODF); capacity building training on the establishment of CERT for Lao PDR and Cambodia; Asean ICT e-mall to facilitate ICT training; use of ICT to improve homeworkers in Asean countries; Asean workshop on public domain and content development; e-learning (e-culture/e-heritage for youths); Asean ICT skills standards development; engage Asean dialogue partners in Ipv6 capacity building initiatives; developing a framework for a research and education network (REN); and Free/ Libre Open Source Software (Floss) distribution kiosks. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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