A ministerial meeting on information technology and communications of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will be organised in Hanoi from November 28 to December 1. This is the first ASEM ministerial-level event in the information and communications technology. On the occasion of the upcoming event, Vietnam Business Forum reporter Nguyen Thoa had an interview with Deputy Minister of Posts and Telematics Nguyen Thanh Hung.
Could you please tell the main contents of the meeting?
The meeting aims at three objectives: Systemise, connect and multiply initiatives in information communication technology (ICT) which have been or are being implemented in ASEM members; Connect ICT initiatives of other regions in which ASEM countries are members, and Focus businesses' attention on IT applications to be developed by the two continents
The focus of the conference is on IT applications for public benefits, especially in rural and remote areas. We think that a project that turns commercial purposes into public benefits will receive strong commitment and cooperation from other countries.
With the importance of the meeting, we will exchange the contents with member countries and we agree to encourage the participation of businesses. More clearly, the conference will have exchange talks for authorities and businesses. ICT ministers will exchange and heed opinions from ASEM-based large ITC companies about the measures to promote and develop IT applications.
How have participating member countries prepared for cooperation?
We appreciate the efficiency of the meeting so that several countries, including Vietnam, Sweden, Indonesia and China, have proposed concrete cooperation contents. Sweden had three proposals, two of which, we think, are suitable for Vietnam as well as other developing countries. Sweden put forth cooperation with Asian partners to activate IT applications to serve elderly people. Vietnam had direct exchanges with Sweden and the Vietnamese Ministry of Health in an attempt to bring the initiative to life in Vietnam.
Sweden also proposed a solution to IT application in mountainous and remote areas. Built on the Swedish initiative, the Vietnamese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications will combine our several contents in our underway public internet project with initiatives of Sweden and other partners to build networks systems to serve agriculture, especially epidemic and veterinary information. As for this project, Indonesia also revealed plans to take part in.
What are the expected benefits of the conference?
We are pinning our hopes on obtaining two objectives from the meeting. Firstly, we want to concretise our four contents as much as possible. The four contents are as follows: - Improving ICT management environment and development policies via the information- and experience-sharing mechanisms between Asia and Europe, organising joint workgroups to study proposals and legal frameworks to promote IT applications like connection, network security and public service development; - Enhancing the ability of ICT companies through training activities and establishing cooperative forums, organising training courses for businesses, setting up forums for businesses; - Promoting the cooperation in IT applications between research institutes and training units through joint programmes for IT applications to health and education between the two continents; - Enhancing the ability of community IT applications to popularise Internet services in schools, reducing service tariffs to increase users, implementing policies to encourage the production of cheap computers and software.
Secondly, we want the specific cooperation of businesses to carry out the four contents. The cooperation is expected to be brought to life with the attendance of IT companies from Japan, China, Sweden, Germany and France.
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