Bangkok--Oct 13--UNISBKK
UNESCAP has already begun a "focused thrust" on community e-centres to share best practices, build capacity and demonstrate pilot projects as a practical step toward to assist members and associate members in realizing the benchmarks established by the World Summit's Plan of Action.
"There exists a huge digital gap between and within the countries in
Asia-Pacific," Mr. Kim Hak-Su, UNESCAP Executive Secretary told the First
Session of the Subcommittee on Information, Communications and Space
Technology.
The First Session of the Subcommittee on Information, Communications and Space Technology of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) is being held from 13-15 October 2004 at the
United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
The Session was inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Surapong Suebwonglee, Minister of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand who stated that the
ICT market for the Asia-Pacific region is the biggest in the developing
world and is the fastest growing.
As for the Asia-Pacific region, community e-centre could be one of the
priority areas for future action, said the Thai Minister.
He also noted with appreciation that ESCAP has become increasingly visible in ICT activities. "We appreciate the large number of ICT activities ESCAP conducted in sharing best practices, capacity-building demonstration
projects and regional advisory services. It is hoped that in the future, ESCAP will continue to make activities result-based, demand driven and catered to regional and local conditions with focuses on field operations that can be useful to Asian and Pacific countries," said the Minister.
The Subcommittee is mandated to promote capacity-building for creating an enabling environment for the development of information and communication
technology (ICT), transfer and application, particularly through regional
cooperation and networking of governmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations for the benefit of developing economies. End.
--InfoQuest (NT)--