Bandar Seri Begawan - The official session of the Asean Telecommunications & IT Senior Officials Meeting (TELSOM) Joint Working Group Meetings and Related Meetings with Dialogue Partners, hosted by Brunei Darussalam, began yesterday, at the Goldstone Ballroom of the Centrepoint Hotel in Gadong.

The opening session, which was attended by senior officials from each of the ten Asean member countries as well as dialogue partners from Japan, Korea, China, India and the European Union, began with a welcoming note by the Assistant CEO of Brunei's Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry (AiTi), Mr Wallace Koh, who is also the Chairman for Brunei Darussalam.

Delegates from the host country comprise officers from the Ministry of Communications and AiTi. Also taking part in the three-day meeting ending tomorrow are proponents and observers from UBD, ITB, MTSSR, UNISSA, Infocomm Brunei and several ICT companies.

There are four working groups under TELSOM: the Asean Information Infrastructure to be chaired by Thailand, Universal Access Digital Divide & e-Government chaired by Brunei Darussalam, E-Society & ICT Capacity Building chaired by Myanmar and E-Commerce and ICT Trade

Facilitation chaired by Indonesia. Each working group has its own Terms of Reference, work programmes and activities. Among the main items on the agenda in yesterday's opening session were the focal points and key areas of discussion that were in line with the strategic thrusts of the Asean ICT Master Plan 2015.

The master plan is a strategic document intended to bring the Asean ICT sector to a higher level and to reinforce the role of ICT for Asean integration with its vision "Towards an Empowering and Transformational ICT: Creating an Inclusive, Vibrant and Integrated Asean".

The meeting will also include a briefing on the status of implementation of the projects for the two-year work cycles from 2007-2010 by project proponents. The Joint Working Group (JWG) Meeting today will feature the recommendations of new project initiatives for 2010-2011 as well as technical inputs for the ICT Master Plan, with briefings by the chairperson of each working group.

The Asean Secretariat will also update the meeting on the status of the Asean ICT Fund, providing details on fund management and its disbursements. On its closing day tomorrow, the JWG Meeting will discuss the status of cooperation and new initiatives with all Dialogue Partners, update them on the schedule and preparation of the TELSOM/ Telecommunications and IT Ministers' Meeting (TELMIN) and secure their support in funding.

The closing day will also see the presentation of the shortlisted ICT initiatives for joint implementation in 2010-2011 as well as the JWG General Meeting with Dialogue Partners as well as consultations with China, Japan, Korea, the EU and India.

China will provide an update on the implementation plan for activities and initiatives that were endorsed by the TELMIN+China Meeting in Vientiane, Laos in Oct 2009 and by the Asean + China Summit on Oct 24, 2009 in Cha am, Hua Hin, Thailand. The meeting will also discuss in detail ways to move the Asean-initiated projects forward and preparations for the TELSOM/TELMIN+China Meeting in November this year.

The JWG+Japan and JWG+Republic of Korea Consultations will meanwhile feature detailed discussions on how to move forward the Asean initiated projects in collaboration with partner countries in 2010-2011 and preparations for the TELSOM/TELMIN meetings with Japan, Republic of Korea, India and the EU this November.

The next Asean TELSOM JWG will meanwhile be held in Singapore next month. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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