18-19 March 2004, Melbourne, Australia

The APT-InfoDev project on Trade and Telecommunications is already underway and its main focus is to prepare the Asia-Pacific for the Telecom Negotiations in the Doha Development Round.  One of the important objectives of the project is to conduct the four Sub Regional seminars that will be held within the Asia Pacific region to assist the member countries. 

The Department of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts had kindly consented to host the Sub-Regional Seminars on Trade and Telecommunications for Pacific Island countries.  This Sub-Regional Seminar was held from 18 to 19 March 2004 (2 days) in conjunction with the APT Preparatory Meeting for WTSA 2004 at Sheraton Towers Southgate in Melbourne, Australia. 

The representatives from the Ministries, national telecom regulators, service providers and other related institution of the member countries attended this meeting. 

The objectives of the sub-regional seminar were:

• To enable countries in Asia-Pacific region to obtain authoritative information and documentation on the implementation of Uruguay Round commitments in Telecommunications.
• To asses impact of extending WTO commitments to cover IP services and other ICT applications in addition to basic services.
• To design a negotiation strategy and collaborative initiatives by sharing experiences of developed and developing countries.

Seminar Documents