Session I - Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Poverty Reduction Strategies Programmes (PRSPs), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Dr. Tariq Banuri
Can technological development, especially in the area of information and communication, help reduce poverty and inequality, and if so, how? There is both optimism and scepticism on this point, the optimists pointing to the spurt of economic growth associated with the emergence of ICTs on the screen, and the pessimists noting the exacerbation of inequality precisely because of unequal access to the new sources of productivity. The real question is not whether but how technological change affects poverty. This paper starts by a debate on the benefits of technology to human development. In fact, the very essence and role of technologies is argued. The three generations of technological innovation periods are described. The paper most focuses on the role of ICTs to the various MDGs as subscribed by the international community in particular the developing ones. At the end of the paper, there is a discussion as to how ICTs at large can help or facilitate human development and reduce poverty. On interesting aspect is also the mention of civic entrepreneurship. In this frame of mind and readership, this paper is about the interlinked relations between ICTs, PRSs and MDGs.
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Session II - Globalization and WTO: ICT, Trade and Competitiveness
Dr. Susan Teltscher
While the spread of ICTs across the globe has been one of the most eminent features of globalization, discussions in the WTO have been limited to electronic commerce and whether to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions sent over the Internet. At the same time, the use of ICT and the Internet by enterprises has impacted the way global business is carried out, and has created new dynamics in international trade and export competitiveness, in particular in the Asian region. With respect to the debates in WTO, the paper argues that fiscal implications of e-commerce could be significant for some Asian countries, but the overall share in government revenue is minor. On the other hand, the ICT sector has played an important role for expanding trade in Asia, both in ICT producing and using sectors. Business process outsourcing, based on the use of Internet and ICT, is growing rapidly in many Asian countries, creating new export and employment opportunities. In order to fully grasp the potential of ICTs for trade and export competitiveness, governments need to put in place an environment favourable to the development of IT-enabled services, such as encouraging the inflow of FDI, reducing import duties on ICT products, ensuring a high-quality, cost-effective telecommunications infrastructure or stepping up efforts to increase domestic IT skills.
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Session III - Role of Government: As an Enabler, Regulator, and Provider of ICT-based Services
Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar
This paper is written to serve as a basis for discussing the role of government: as an enabler, regulator, and provider of ICT based services in the Asian Forum on Information Communication and Technology Policy and e-Strategies being held at Kuala Lumpur from 20-22 October, 2003. The paper presents developments in the area of e-government in Asian countries. It discusses the kind of applications that have been developed, benefits that have been delivered, and the reasons why many developing countries in the world have been quick in adopting e-government. To exploit the full potential of e-government there are many challenges. Several factors that are necessary for building effective e-government applications are identified on the basis of an analysis of success and failures of e-government applications that have been developed so far. In the final section, the paper defines a role for governments in Asia that can enable them to exploit the full potential of e-government. The role encompasses a doer's role-- delivering government services electronically, and an enabling role that encourages private sector to deliver electronic services. Governments need to develop a vision and strategy, create an organization to support and catalyze e-government, build human capacity, and enact policies that will attract private investment in infrastructure and application development.
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Session IV - Regulatory Issues and Privatization
Dr. John Ure
The privatization of state-owned telecommunication companies began in Asia in Japan in the 1980s and gathered pace during the 1990s. To judge the results requires a prior understanding of the aims and objectives of privatization and even an agreed definition of privatization. In its widest context, privatization can refer to a range of policies to embrace private sector capital in the development of the industry, everything from outsourcing to full-blown market liberalization. This paper looks at research results of studies of privatization in its narrow sense of full or partial transfer of ownership of a SOE to the private sector, usually by share issue privatization (SIP). Econometric research examines the results of privatization, while non-econometric research tends to study the process and context of privatization. Overall the evidence suggests that while privatization is usually associated with faster fixed line growth, greater profitability and higher productivity, evidence on prices, net employment effects and capital investment is less clear-cut. One thing most studies agree upon is that the effects of privatization cannot be easily isolated from the effects of competitive reforms, changes in market structure and the nature and role of the post-privatization regulatory regime. Taken together these effects almost certainly outweigh the effects of privatization taken on its own.
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Session V - Infrastructure, Access, and the Potential of Wireless
Hon. Virgilio L Pena
This paper will mainly focus on infrastructure, access and the potential of wireless technologies. It will identify and discuss types of Community e-Centers and models adopted by a number of countries. It will look at the business/commercial mechanisms, sustainability and local participation in each of these models and talk about the need for focusing on Content Development rather than over-emphasizing broadband deployment alone. It will also address areas where content can drive utilization of broadband, as well as the need for complementary capacity building efforts to educate end users. Given the current status of broadband deployment and internet penetration in the region, the paper will present the technologies more suitable to remote communities, such as wireless, and suggest strategies of minimizing the cost of access e.g. Open Source software and will also discuss the Community e-Center Program (CECP), the model adopted by the Philippines, in its pursuit of achieving the goal of universal access.
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Session VI - Creating Capacity and Jobs
Mr. Salman Ansari
Over the decades, the gap between the developed and developing countries has increased exponentially. The enormous financial, infrastructure and human resources needed to just be able to absorb change – let alone catch up - have made this task even more daunting. Even where one element was available – natural resources for example – the lack of the other needed elements ensured that there was no traction, which would enable these countries to climb out of this seemingly bottomless pit. The consequence of Capacity Building will be to effectively deploy ICT for Governance, Commerce, Education and creation of jobs and creating the basis for the Governments to take practical steps for poverty reduction in the ‘new economy’. This session will examine the different facets, the interplay and best practices for achieving the objective of Capacity Building in the regional countries.
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Session VII - Legal Issues - Security, Privacy, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Prof. Harry HK Tan
This paper reviews the current status and ongoing development of ICT law and regulation as it impacts on electronic commerce and economic development in the Asia Pacific region. In particular, the paper will look at how the regional countries have developed their local laws to address the various legal issues of electronic commerce law and regulation. While many countries have adopted or adapted the model ICT laws, such domestic legal development would arguably be only the first of many to come. This paper also surveys the immediate regulatory issues that need to be addressed for the continued growth of E-commerce.
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Session VIII - Public-Private Partnerships and Financing ICT Developments
Mr. Paul Ulrich
The paper begins with a taxonomy of the different sets of actors involved in public-private partnerships, identifies their respective roles and interests, and discusses the factors that cause partnerships to succeed or fail. It then analyzes how partnerships provide funding for ICT development with particular emphasis on the promotion of innovation, employment, and small business in ICT-through incubators, technology parks, and special zones-and providing access to ICT for the poor-via rural ICT deployments, universal-access funds, and targeted subsidies. The discussion describes how various options for funding, recent advances in technology, and creative program designs can enable governments to achieve their objectives in ICT.
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