Chairman's Press Statement
Asia IT Ministers' Conference

October 28, 2001
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
People's Republic of China

1. The Asia IT Ministers' Conference was held in Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China on October 28, 2001, in order to reassure the potential of IT for future growth of Asian economy and to exchange views on their IT policies. Ministers and their representatives from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and the Republic of Singapore have attended the Conference. Dr. Heizo Takenaka, Minister for IT Policy of Japan, chaired the Conference.

2. Ministers discussed the implication of IT sector on economic growth and the serious downturn of IT industries worldwide. Ministers agreed on the importance of IT for future growth of Asian economy.

3. Based on the common recognition mentioned above, Ministers acknowledged that their policies should be targeted at providing an appropriate business environment in the areas of IT-related human resources, e-commerce, IT security, and Asia-wide distribution of IT products.

4. In particular, Ministers discussed the intellectual property rights and shared the view of their importance for the future IT society.

5. Ministers reiterated the importance of the strategy to develop technologies and standards originated from Asian region, and stressed the necessity of cooperation between business sector and government in promoting next-generation technology development, in order to continue to expand IT markets in Asia and to take the leadership of IT technology in the world.

6. In particular, Ministers agreed that they should cooperate and do their best for the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to be deployed promptly in Asian region so that Asia could cope with explosive increase of Internet users.

7. Ministers also exchanged views on the future technologies of the mobile telecommunications system.

8. Ministers noted the "Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN)" project presented by the Republic of Korea, which would demonstrate the usefulness of IT.

9. Ministers presented their IT policies as the "Best Practice" approach, and exchanged their experience and knowledge for their reference to future IT policy.

• People's Republic of China
  --China's Policy for the Development of Software and IC Industries
• Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China
  --2001 Digital 21 Strategy, Hong Kong: Connecting the World
• India
  --Comprehensive policies for nurturing the human resource development initiative and promoting the IT industry
• Japan
  --Effective IT policy formation process
• Republic of Korea
  --Success story of broadband internet
• Malaysia
  --Communications and Multimedia Policy Development in Malaysia
• Republic of Singapore
  --ICT in Singapore: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future

10. Ministers welcomed the Business Leaders' Conference which would be held tomorrow. Ministers reiterated that business sector was the main player and key driver in IT industry, and that high-level interaction between business sector and government on IT would be precious.

11. The Republic of Korea has proposed to host the next "Asian IT Ministers' Conference," and Ministers agreed to it.