REPORT OF THE FIRST MEETING ON 

INTER AGENCY COORDINATION ON ICT 

22 August 2001, UN Conference Centre, Bangkok

I.            ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING

 1.         The Interagency Coordination Meeting on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was held at Bangkok on 22 August 2001.  It was jointly organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), with the main objective of initiating the process of consultations, including exchange of experiences and information of international and regional organizations concerned with work of ICT in Asia and the Pacific.

2.         The meeting was attended by representatives of 18 international and regional agencies. 

3.         The meeting was chaired and opened by Mr. Kim Hak-Su,. Executive Secretary, ESCAP.  In his opening statement, Mr. Kim stressed that while the ICT revolution had created the potential for accelerating broad-based growth and sustainable development including poverty alleviation, developing countries and especially the least developed countries, island developing countries as well as economies in transition accounted for a small fraction of the global digital economy.  Concerns about these disparities between developed and developing member countries, especially with respect to Internet access and use, had touched off a worldwide debate about the existence of a global digital divide.

4.         Mr.  Kim pointed out that there were many initiatives and activities at all levels in the Asian and Pacific region attempting to address this challenge.  The development impact of these initiatives and projects could be significantly enhanced through strengthening synergies, ensuring complementarities, promoting awareness and through supporting, replicating and scaling-up of successful practices.  Therefore, he believed that through greater cooperation and coordination, international and regional agencies could together make a greater contribution to the social and economic development of the region.  He further stressed that ESCAP had accumulated experience and expertise in the area of ICT and was interested and willing to cooperate with other regional organizations in supporting national efforts of countries in the region to facilitate in the development and application of ICT and mainstreaming the lagging economies, in particular, in order to bridge the digital divide between countries and within countries of the region.

5.         In his introductory remark, Mr.  Jong-Soon Lee, Executive Director, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), pointed out that technological changes in ICT were very rapid.  No sectors could remain competitive without utilizing ICT in its various activities.  The creation of a sustainable market for ICT in Asia and the Pacific was essential for the continuation of the growth of ICT.  A substantial amount of work had already been done towards this end.  However, the knowledge about this high quality work had remained confined to limited audience.  Furthermore, application of ICT often required joint work of different organizations in related sectors to achieve their objectives.

6.         Mr.  Lee felt that it would be very beneficial for all agencies to know how others developed their own work programme in ICT and how APT could develop the projects to meet the requirement of others, through exploring opportunities of sharing information concerning ICT activities.  In addition to bringing a synergy of efforts, it would also help the organizations in identifying partners for joint projects, in cultivating new ideas and, of course, in avoiding clashes of programmes.              In this regard, he recommended that this interagency meeting should be convened at regular intervals.  An appropriate mechanism should be developed for a frequent exchange of views and sharing of information. 

7.         The meeting had the following agenda:

            (1)            Opening remarks by Executive Secretary, ESCAP

            (2)            Introductory remarks by Executive Director, APT

            (3)            Summaries of ICT initiatives by various UN and Intergovernmental agencies

            (4)            Cooperation on ICT:

            (5)            Other matters.

II.            SUMMARY OF THE MEETING DISCUSSIONS

8.         The following international and regional organizations made presentations (in order of presentation) on their activities and expressed their views on the need and potential of consultation and cooperation among agencies in the field of ICT in Asia and the Pacific:

            UNFPA;

            ESCAP;

            UNDP;

            ITU;

            UNDCP;

            UNCCD;

            UNICEF;

            UNAIDS;

            FAO;

            UNESCO

            ICAO

            WHO

            WORLD BANK

            UNOPS;

            APT;

            ADB;

            UNIDO;

            UPU.

9.         During the above presentations, all agencies stressed the use for continuing consultation among agencies, particularly, for sharing information and data for promoting synergy and increasing efficiency of their efforts.  Sharing of information about their ongoing and proposed plans and activities, especially at initial planning stages, outcomes of implemented programmes such as declarations, resolutions, pilot projects, best practices, etc. will help in effectively utilizing their resources and in taking advantage of each others’ capabilities.  Information sharing will further strengthen the activities and will prevent any fragmentation of their efforts.  Clash of dates about seminars and workshops could be avoided by such information sharing.  The agencies further felt that it may be useful to establish a common website linking interested agencies and easily access of general public to the information on ICT activities in the region.

10.       Mr Michael A. Calvano, Head, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, briefed the meeting of the current status of the preparation for the World Summit on Information Society.  The first phase of the World Summit will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2003 as the second phase will take place in Tunis in 2005.  A High-Level Organizing Committee (HLOC) composed of the Executive Heads of the UN agencies concerned was set up.  The private sector and NGOs will also have a substantial role and presence in the Summit.

11.       There was a general agreement at the meeting that it would be important to organize a regional meeting in the region as a part of the preparation for the World Summit, in order to integrate regional dimensions in its deliberations.  In this connection, the meeting was informed that the forthcoming General Assembly would discuss the issue of the organization of the Summit.  In case of the approval of the World Summit by the General Assembly, the UN Regional Commissions were expected to assume leading role in organizing regional events for the preparation of the Summit.  Other international and regional organizations were welcomed to join regional commissions towards this end.

12.       The meeting discussed the establishment of the regional Interagency Working Group, and the draft of the terms of reference of the Working Group.  Draft terms of reference is attached.  As all concerned agencies and organizations dealing with ICT in the region would be invited to become members of the Working Group and NGOs and representatives of the private sectors may participate as observers,  it was suggested that the Working Group would be an independent regional entity.  It was agreed that the participating agencies would inform ESCAP and APT of their views on the draft terms of reference and the participation in the Working Group after consultation in their agencies, not later than 10 September 2001.  The meeting welcomed the offer of ESCAP to provide the secretariat support in cooperation with APT for smooth functioning of the Working Group.

13.       The meeting closed its work at 1230 hours.

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