Tuesday, July 31, 2007 IT issues to be discussed in 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT gab By Joy Romares-Sevilla
INFORMATION and communications technology (ICT) stakeholders from both private and government sectors in BIMP-Eaga, including Australia, will discuss four major topics during the first BIMP-Eaga Information and Communications Technology (ICT) conference in October.
The topics include infrastructure development addressing digital divide issues; human capital development in BIMP-Eaga particularly in IT-related courses and jobs; investment promotions towards promoting BIMP-Eaga as an ICT hub; and innovation ecosystem advancement through sharing of experiences and good practices.
To address digital divide issues, sharing of experiences particularly on current and forthcoming initiatives towards improving the digital infrastructure and ICT services in BIMP-Eaga and border areas will be done.
It is also expected that each country will present their priority or three ICT issues that they have gathered after conducting their own in-country consultations. These will be presented along with the actions that have already taken to address the issues.
Andrei Fournier, Mindanao ICT spokesperson, said the conference will be "very exciting" since it will be the first time that plenary sessions and talks will be done during the conference.
"Not only the stakeholders from the ICT sector are expected to attend, but also other sectors, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority will also be in the conference," Fournier said.
It was learned that each country will present their individual country's visions, experiences, development model, strengths, limitations and suggested areas for collaboration particularly on the mentioned topics during the plenary sessions.
