Title: Expert Group Meeting on Regional Cooperation towards an Information Society in Asia and the Pacific
1Expert Group Meeting on Regional Cooperation
towards an Information Society in Asia and the
Pacific Objective and Expected Outcome of the
Meeting
Ram Tiwaree, DrEng Information and Communications
Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division
(IDD) Email tiwaree_at_un.org
2Background
- Access to information and knowledge contribute
largely to strengthening social and economic
development and thus helps developing countries
to accomplish the internationally agreed
development goals, including the Millennium
Development Goals - Currently, Asia-Pacific region has over half of
the Internet and mobile connectivity in the
world and - Mobile phones have surpassed fixed phones in the
region - Broadband penetration - 3.5 per cent (2007)
- ICT policies and regulations are in place in many
developing countries - Digital divide is changing in some respects and
that while in general the divide maybe sinking
3Current Challenges
- There is still a large digital divide between
developed/developing countries, urban/rural
populations, rich/poor - A new form of digital divide is emerging in terms
of difference in quality and speed of access to
ICT in developing countries - Disparity continues between developed and
developing countries that in developed,
high-income economies, average cost of broadband
connection is significantly less than in
developing countries, both in nominal terms and
as a percentage of the average monthly income - Gender divide still persists between
developed/developing countries in respect of
quality and variety of means of access to
Internet and ICTs - In many developing countries, there is inadequate
coherence and complementarities between national
ICT policies and national development/poverty
reduction strategies
4Current Challenges
- Inadequacy of
- indicators needed to measure progress towards
achieving the targets as set out in section B of
the Action Plan of the WSIS - awareness of ICT benefits among government
officials and stakeholders on wider penetration
and usage of ICT - affordable access points for ICT training, among
others - Current level of ICT access (in terms of quality,
quantity, afford-ability) especially in countries
with special needs or CSN (LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS)
might not be sufficient to achieve the
Internationally agreed development goals (e.g.,
WSIS outcomes/goals MDGs) - Exchange of information and best practices at the
sub-regional/regional level, facilitating policy
debate on the use of ICT for development and
cooperation among all stakeholders in
collectively transforming the digital divide into
digital opportunities is considered critical
5Objective of the meeting-mandate
- 1st session of the Committee on Information and
Communications - Technology held from 19 to 21 Nov 2008
recommended to - Put in place follow-up mechanisms at the regional
level to review the implementation of the
outcomes of the World Summit on the Information
Society in 2015 and - Streamline the implementation of the Regional
Action Plan towards the Information Society in
Asia and the Pacific - 65th Commission Session (23-29 April 2009)
- Endorse the recommendation of the Committee and
emphasized need for establishing a
structure/mechanism to assist implementation of
the outcomes of the WSIS at both the
national/regional levels, to monitor related
initiatives and identify gaps and challenges and
cooperation needs at the regional level
6Objective of the meeting
- Review the progress in the implementation of the
outcomes of the WSIS including its goals and
targets as contained in section B of the Plan of
Action of the WSIS in Geneva and - Discuss the necessity of streamlining the
implementation of the Regional Action Plan
towards the Information Society in Asia and the
Pacific, as necessary - Discuss and make recommendations for actions at
the national/sub-regional and regional levels
towards attaining the major outcomes, and goals
and targets of the WSIS by 2015 in Asia and the
Pacific
7Programme
- Day 1 and Day 2
- (i) Status on progress towards information
society - (ii)Subregional Orgs ASEAN, PIFS, SAARC, ECO
(iii) International/regional organizations APT,
ITU, UNESCO - (iv) Country experiences
- Day 2 Work in groups
- The meeting will be divided into 2 groups. Group
A and Group B. The rapporteurs Mr. Hajela and
Mr. Dewapura will facilitate the work. The group
will prepare a report (sets of
recommendations/guidelines for presentation to be
given the next day) - Day 3
- The Rapporteurs present the outcomes of the
group discussions and final sets of
recommendations will be prepared.
8Expected Outcomes
- A set of recommendations, ways and means for
sub-regional/regional cooperation towards
accomplishing the outcomes of WSIS and
implementation of regional action plan which will - guide the Secretariat/ International/ regional
organizations and countries in the region for
necessary action in the future to meet the
current and emerging challenges of ICT for
inclusive and sustainable development - The draft version for review of the experts will
be circulated to you all soon, by July 31-2009
and comments are expected from you within a week. - The recommendations of the EGM will be included
in the e-publication Regional progress and
strategies towards building the information
society in Asia and the Pacific - Your presentations and outcomes will also be
posted on ESCAP website www.unescap.org/idd/
9- as global references for improving connectivity
and access in promoting the objectives of the
WSIS Plan of Action (sec B), to be achieved by
2015
Indicative targets
- To connect villages with ICTs and establish
community access points - To connect universities, colleges, secondary
schools and primary schools with ICTs - To connect scientific and research centres with
ICTs - To connect public libraries, cultural centres,
museums, post offices and archives with ICTs - To connect health centres and hospitals with
ICTs - To connect all local and central government
departments and establish websites and email
addresses
10Indicative targets
- as global references for improving connectivity
and access in promoting the objectives of the
WSIS Plan of Action (sec B), to be achieved by
2015
- To adapt all primary and secondary school
curricula to meet the challenges of the
Information Society, taking into account national
circumstances - To ensure that all of the world's population have
access to television and radio services - To encourage the development of content and to
put in place technical conditions in order to
facilitate the presence and use of all world
languages on the Internet - To ensure that more than half the worlds
inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach
11Action Lines and moderators as in Geneva Plan of
Action - Section C
12