..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 25 July 2006
Note to Editor: N/29/2006

Major UN Meeting on Information Society Measurements in Asia-Pacific

Bangkok (UN Information Services) – A Joint United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and UNESCAP Regional Workshop on Information Society Measurements in Asia-Pacific is being organized from 26-28 July 2006 to share "best practices" in ICT measurement at the regional level.

ICT infrastructure and access; access to, and use of ICT by households and individuals; use of ICT by businesses; and ICT sector and trade in ICT goods will be discussed by representatives of the national statistical system responsible for information society measurements and officials from some ICT ministries and regulatory agencies.

H.E. Professor Suchai Charoenratanakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Royal Thai Government, will deliver the keynote speech to the 56 experts from over 20 countries in the region as well as regional partners and UN representatives.

“As it was well recognized at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ICT statistics and indicators are crucial for formulating policies and strategies covering ICT-driven or ICT enabled growth, for social inclusion and cohesion, and for monitoring and evaluating ICT-related economic and social development,” said Mr. Shigeru Mochida, Deputy Executive Secretary and Officer-in-Charge, a.i. of UNESCAP. He observed, however, that “only few countries collect official statistics on the Information Society, and most of the available data and indicators are not internationally comparable”.
The international, multi-stakeholder Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development launched during UNCTAD XI in June 2004 has been instrumental in identifying the core ICT indicators.
“The meeting aims to increase awareness both at the political and technical level for the need to measure information society developments and for linking the national policy agenda with the e-measurement agenda, requiring effective cooperation between policy makers and national statistical systems,” said an UNESCAP spokesman.

For further information, please contact:
Mr. Shahid R. Din
Officer-in-Charge, a.i.
ICT Policy Section/ICSTD
UNESCAP
Tel. 66(0) 2 288 1685,
Email: din@un.org

For media inquiries, please contact:
Mr. David Lazarus
Chief, UN Information Services
Bangkok, Thailand
Telephone: 66(0)2288-1866
Fax: 66(0)2288-1052
Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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