Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force) Report on the State of Implementation of the Genoa Plan of Action
(Outline)

June 27, 2002

Points:

DOT Force1 prepared a report on the state of implementation of the Genoa Plan of Action drawn up in 2001, and submitted it to the G8 Summit in June 2002. The outline of the report is the followings.

1. Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force) is a working group established in the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society that was issued at the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit in July 2000, for the purpose of integrating G8 cooperation regarding information and communication technology (IT) into a broader range of international approaches.

1. Summary

(1) Launching of implementation teams

1. After the July 2001 Genoa Summit, an implementation team with voluntarily participating members was organized for each action point of the Genoa Plan of Action. The Government of Japan is participating in the following Action Points: Policy Support, Improved Access, Human Resources Development and Participation by Developing Countries in International Conferences on IT. Each team is to pay due consideration to Africa, and the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is expected to play a role in coordination among donors.

(2) Specific Measures

In the past year, measures have been taken in the areas of (a) Strengthening Readiness for e-Development; (b) Improving Access and Connectability; (c) Developing Skills for the Information Economy; and (d) Fostering Local Content and Applications (For details, see 2. below).

(3) Digital Opportunities in Africa

DOT Force welcomes the fact that the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) itself considers IT as an important element for development and that it lists the followings as its objectives: doubling teledensity (telephone penetration rate) by 2005, achieving e-readiness for all countries in Africa, and lowering the connection costs. DOT Force will continue to support NEPAD. Already, the various initiatives in the areas of Policy Support, Improved Access, Human Resources Development, Entrepreneurship Development, the Health Sector, and Local Contents have been formulated.

(4) Future Activities

With the submission of this report, DOT Force as a part of G8 process is completed. However, the members have decided that from now on as well they will maintain voluntary partnerships, and continue their initiatives while calling for the participation of a wider range of stakeholders.

2. Activities for Each Action Point (AP)

1. Policy Support

Through cooperation between the public and private sectors, the International e-Development Resource Network (a network that gives advice to policy makers and related personnel in developing countries over the Internet and carries out information exchange) and other entities are scheduled to start up. Action Plan on e-Government for Development has been drawn up. It was initiated by Italy and a model of e-government architecture and an action plan to put it into practice have been developed. Italy selected five partners (the Republic of Albania, Jordan, Nigeria, the Republic of Tunisia, and the Republic of Mozambique), and began supporting them through the fund established at the United Nations for this purpose.

2. Improved Access

Canada, France, the UK, Japan and other donors are currently implementing a project concerned with the development of public access points (public places which provides Internet connection service).

3. Human Resources Development

A database of each donor's human resources development program was created by the German company Siemens. It was reaffirmed that the improvement of capacity to use IT attracts investment and leads to development of the country as a whole. In particular, it was reaffirmed that programs targeted at children should be expanded.

4. Entrepreneur Cultivation

A network to support entrepreneurs in developing countries was planned under the leadership of the UK company Accenture.

5. Participation by Developing Countries in International Conferences on IT

International conferences in which developing countries should participate were selected, and the existing programs to facilitate their participation were studied. Creation of a network that introduces discussions at each forum to developing countries is in the planning stage.

6. IT for Health

A network among related people was established and a needs assessment survey was conducted. Based upon the results, initiatives are being implemented in three areas: (1) Education for Health Care Workers; (2) Preventive Information for the General Public; and (3) Public Health Information Systems.

7. Local Content and Applications

A network for the purpose of distributing information rooted in localities among society is in the planning stage. As a first step, a pilot project is scheduled in India. There is also a plan to work on character code sets for local languages.