CHAIRMAN'S PRESS STATEMENT
East Asia ICT Cooperation Conference
"Challenges from Okayama"

17 September 2001
Okayama, Japan

East Asia ICT Cooperation Conference was held in Okayama, Japan on 17 September 2001. It was for the first time to have such a meeting, with participation of senior officials from Ministries and Agencies and private persons concerned ICT cooperation from ASEAN+3 countries and international organizations, to discuss wide range of issues related ICT cooperation in East Asia.

1. Background

This Conference was proposed by Japanese former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to promote ICT cooperation in East Asia on the occasion of the ASEAN+3 Summit Meeting in November 2000. Japan and other participants consider that ICT is one of the most important areas for cooperation in East Asia.

For ASEAN, ICT cooperation is one of the most important fields of cooperation among ASEAN members and ASEAN countries themselves have been actively promoting ASEAN-wide projects endorsed by the e-ASEAN Task Force and programmes under Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) to tackle the digital divide.

Japan, China and the Republic of Korea have been actively promoting cooperation in this field with ASEAN. Especially, on the process of ASEAN Economic Ministers+3 (AEM+3), some projects are being implemented as ASEAN+3 projects. E-ASEAN Working Group +3 has been also launched from July this year.

Participants

The Conference was attended by delegates from Japan, China and the Republic of Korea, ASEAN member countries and ASEAN Secretariat, chair of e-ASEAN Working Group and members of e-ASEAN Task Force and its secretariat. It was also attended by businesspersons working in the ICT related industry from East Asia including Japan. Representative of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) participated as observers.

Mr. Kazuo Asakai, Ambassador for International Economic Affairs and Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, took the chair of the Conference.

3. Conclusion

Stocktaking of overall situation of current ICT cooperation in East Asia is most timely, in order to share information by all stakeholders and to raise the level of cooperation to a higher stage. As ICT cooperation covers wide range of fields, and there are various stakeholders for ICT related work, it is very necessary to actively involve them in the overall cooperation.

4. Summary of the discussion

(1) ICT Strategy in each country
Japan explained "e-Japan Strategy", which aims to make Japan the most advanced ICT nation within 5 years. Explanation aslo included the international cooperation aspect.

The chairperson of e-ASEAN Working Group, on behalf of ASEAN, explained the concrete measures of e-ASEAN initiative based on the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, focusing on the five important fields of cooperation, i.e., (i) information infrastructure, (ii) e-commerce, (iii) common market, (iv) capacity building and e-society, and (v) e-government. ASEAN side explained further the actual situation and perspective of ICT development in each ASEAN country.

China illustrated its ICT policy, focusing on the national strategy for further progress of IT-related industries, which has developed remarkably.

Republic of Korea explained its remarkable achievements in emerging as one of the most advanced IT nation in the world. Korea mainly focused on the establishment of its world-class high speed Internet broad network, high computer literacy, exponential increase in the number of subscribers for mobile telecom and Internet, promotion of ICT related industry and start-ups.

(2) ICT cooperation in East Asia
It was pointed out that ICT cooperation in the whole East Asia can be developed further by coping with two tasks, namely, (i) to tackle common issues together and (ii) to further promote cooperation from +3 countries to ASEAN countries. In this regard, it was reported to the Conference that +3 countries established ICT Working Group at Director-General level to cope with these two tasks effectively.

1. Common issues
   As for common issues for East Asia, participants pointed out the importance of promoting cooperation in such areas as e-government, capacity building, e-society, standardization, content, ICT infrastructure, e-commerce, trade and investment.
2. Cooperation from +3 countries to ASEAN
   Participants pointed out the importance to further promote cooperation from +3 countries to ASEAN in such areas as Human Resource Development, ICT infrastructure, e-commerce, e-government, policy and institution building, ICT for Development (poverty alleviation, health, education, competitiveness) and investment.
3. Comments by participants
   Japan explained its "Comprehensive Cooperation Package to Address the Digital Divide" announced last year. Concrete efforts for development of network, infurastructure, realisation of e-government, development of IT-related industries and facilitation of e-commerce were explained.
   Japan also explained areas for further cooperation such as development of IPv6 and 3G mobile services.
   In terms of promoting e-commerce and trade, Japanese side explained "Asia PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) Forum" and TEDI (Trade Electric Data Interchange) Initiative. Progress on the cooperation for common scheme of skill standards for IT engineers and e-learning was also reported.
   
   China expressed its hope that the cooperation could be conducted in the areas, such as construction of IT infrastructure, policy and market regulation, security, human resource development and creation of favorable cooperation environment.
   
   Republic of Korea proposed to constitute an IT Standard Collaboration Forum for harmonization of various 3G and 4G technologies. It also proposed that +3 countries cooperate on resolving the digital divide by executing active projects in Asia.
   
   ASEAN side expressed deep appreciation to +3 countries for their efforts and presented information and views on moving forward in collaboration with +3 countries.
   
   In order to further promote cooperation, the necessity was pointed out to strengthen information sharing and identification of priority for national and regional level. It was also noted that there was a need to avoid duplication of effort with the many existing initiatives and activities in the region.
   
   All participants noted the importance of addressing the digital divide as a cornerstone of ASEAN+3 cooperation. It was also proposed that questions of enhancing the overall competitiveness of the Asian ICT market should also be addressed.

(3) Proposal for strengthening of coordination mechanism (Okayama Proposal) Participants shared the view that ASEAN+3 countries should further promote cooperation through various Ministerial meetings and other channels, utilizing existing and evolving mechanism, and thus further promote cooperation in the ICT area.

At the same time, the necessity was pointed out to strengthen the coordination among various projects and efforts, as ICT cooperation encompasses wide range of areas and multi-disciplinary approach is most needed. In this context, proposal was made to improve mechanism for coordination of ICT issues between ASEAN and the +3 partners. Participants agreed to continue deliberation in order to make concrete plan for coordination by the middle of October.

5. Gratitude to Okayama

Participants expressed their gratitude to Okayama prefecture for its warmest hospitality.