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OPENING STATEMENT
 BY
MR. KIM HAK-SU
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA
AND THE PACIFIC

Your Excellency Mr. Surapong Suebwonglee, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Royal Thai Government,
Excellencies,
Distinguished representatives,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to welcome all of you to the first session of the Subcommittee on Information, Communications and Space Technology. The large attendance of countries and participants here today, including over half of those country from your capitals, is a very encouraging sign of the recognition accorded to this meeting by our members and associate members, and by our fellow organizations.

I would like to especially thank His Excellency Mr. Surapong Suebwonglee, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Royal Thai Government.  I know you are travelling overseas today, but your decision initially to come to open this session demonstrates your own commitment and that of your Government to ESCAP, and to the success of this first session.  I am sure that our session will benefit immensely from your far-sighted vision, your hands-on expertise and your invaluable guidance.  Thank you very much, Your Excellency.

This session is being convened at a time when information, communication and space technologies, or ICSTs, are offering our world unprecedented inventions and surprises -- by the day, by the hour and as many say, by the second.  It is also being convened at a time when world attention at the highest level is being directed at spectacular technological advancements and their impacts. Less than one year ago, the World Summit on the Information Society concluded its first phase in Geneva, and a little more than a year from now, it will meet again for the second phase in Tunis.

In the next three days, the participants in our first session will shoulder an enormous duty and a very heavy workload.  Soon after our opening today, you will start to review ESCAP' activities particularly since July 2002, when the Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (ICSTD) was established in the secretariat at the request of members and associate members.

In less than two and half years since its establishment, ICSTD has served ESCAP member countries with a variety of activities.  The areas covered have ranged from the preparations for the World Summit, e-commerce and e-government to an enabling legal and regulatory framework, cyberspace crime, intellectual property rights, informed disaster management and extensive training in remote sensing and other space technologies, to name only the major ones.

I would like to particularly single out the Asian Regional Conference for the World Summit held in Tokyo in January 2003, which was hosted by the Government of Japan and co-organized with ESCAP and others.  Its Tokyo Declaration was a major contribution to the World Summit's final documents -- the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action.

During the review process, you will hear reports on four pre-session events organized and serviced by ICSTD.  The events focused on follow-up to phase I of the World Summit, the preparations for phase II, software and open source programme, and satellite communications.  You will examine a draft regional action plan and hear reports on discussions on two focal topics of the World Summit process -- Internet governance and financial mechanisms for ICT for development.  These outcomes, together with your wisdom and subregional enrichments, are expected to form our regional inputs to the global discussion process.

During the same period, ESCAP has had a number of encouraging offers and initiatives from its members for regional cooperation.  They include the Asia broadband programme proposed by Japan, the establishment of a regional centre for disaster management through ICSTs by the Islamic Republic of Iran, space cooperation, especially in launching capacity by Kazakhstan, and the development of a framework for the unified measurement spectrum of the information society by Thailand. You are to examine, deliberate and make recommendations on them before they go to the next stage for final decisions.

In the future, it is our intention to focus our work on bridging the digital divide in the region as called for by the World Summit.  This is mainly because there exists a huge digital gap between and within the countries in Asia-Pacific, perhaps more obviously than in other regions such as Europe and the Americas.  Efforts will be made to assist members and associate members in realizing the benchmarks established by the World Summit's Plan of Action, with priority given to the least developed, landlocked and small island developing countries, and countries with economies in transition.

Our region is basically rural, and home to the largest population, especially the largest poor population, in the world.  The secretariat has received requests from a large number of member countries to help them to connect villages with ICSTs and establish community access points, the one World Summit benchmark on top of all others in the Plan of Action. Accordingly, we have started a focused thrust on community e-centres to share best practices, build capacity and demonstrate pilot projects.

Public-private partnerships have frequently been identified as an effective tool for promoting common benefits, such as greater achievement, faster delivery, deeper impact and reduced cost, especially in less profitable areas. In the ICST sector, knowledge and management skills are basically in the hands of the private sector, with many companies seeking to contribute to the public good and for promotional purposes.  The World Summit and the Millennium Development Goals have both stressed the importance of cooperation with the private sector to make available the benefits of new technologies, especially ICSTs.

Therefore, the secretariat will work closely with the private sector and other stakeholders in the delivery of its services. Areas such as e-government, e-learning, e-business, e-health, e-environment, e-agriculture and e-science, as listed by the World Summit, will be the focus of our services.  It is our hope that by working together through concerted and concrete efforts we can help to remove the major impediments to the use of ICSTs. They include poor connectivity, inadequate policy and regulatory frameworks and physical infrastructures, low levels of education, paucity of trained manpower and insufficient investment.

At the secretariat, ICSTs came under our thematic working team on managing globalization, in recognition of their status as one major driving force behind globalization. However, ICSTs are cross-cutting and ICSTD has been working closely with the other divisions in the secretariat to make sure that ICSTs also contribute to the other two ESCAP thematic thrusts of poverty reduction and emerging social issues.

In the delivery of services, the ESCAP secretariat will emphasize the following three roles:

One. A lead role in the follow-up to phase I of the World Summit and preparations for phase II.  This was mandated by the Commission at its sixtieth session, held in Shanghai, China, last April.

Two. The role of a major partner in national initiatives to promote regional cooperation and the development of e-policies and regulatory framework, like the Asia broadband programme.

Three. A catalytic role in national, subregional and regional initiatives to promote ICSTs for development, such as e-Indonesia, e-ASEAN and e-Asia.

Excellencies, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

I have highlighted the major issues under the ESCAP Subcommittee on ICST.  The secretariat has prepared background documents to facilitate your deliberations. It has also taken the innovative step of organizing specialized pre-session meetings and you will therefore have the benefit of the views of experts during your deliberations on these issues.

I hope that your deliberations on the important issues listed in the agenda will be mutually enriching to our members and associate members, and that they will provide guidance to the secretariat on the future course of action.

I wish you every success in your deliberations.

Thank you.