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Fourth Meeting of the Information and Communication Working Group (ICTWG)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) supports the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program which helps facilitate the economic cooperation initiatives of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. SASEC provides a forum for participating countries to discuss, identify, prioritize and implement sub-regional cooperation projects in six priority sectors including information and communications technology (ICT). The ICT Working Group (ICTWG) - composed of Secretaries and/or Joint Secretaries from Finance Ministries of SASEC countries, Secretaries and/or Joint Secretaries from the ICT Ministries of SASEC countries, and representatives from development partners - is responsible for the identification and implementation of projects in the ICT sector.

The third meeting of the ICTWG was held on 20 September 2006 in Dhaka Bangladesh. The meeting discussed the processing status of the SASEC Information Highway RETA and Japan Fund for Information and Communications Technology (JFICT) e-centers project. The meeting also tackled ADB’s initiatives on rural e-development, and the ICT master plan by SASEC member countries.

In November 2006, ADB approved a regional technical assistance (RETA 6358) for Preparing the SASEC Information Highway amounting to $500,000.00. The project, which was based on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Master Plan developed by the ICTWG, aims to establish regional exchange including in-country gateways and cross border links; expand rural access to ICT through village networks; and establish a regional research and training center. The ICTWG, with support from ADB and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), has also implemented the Community e-Centers (CeCs) project. The CeCs project aims to establish telecenters in rural villages in SASEC participating countries in an effort to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban populations. At the project’s Second Steering Committee Meeting held during 30-31 July 2007, the participating countries and ADB reviewed the draft final report of the RETA and agreed on the basic features and processing milestones of the proposed SASEC Information Highway Investment Project.

Read the news release.

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Finalize and confirm the features of and necessary agreements on the proposed SASEC Information Highway investment project, which includes:

• cost and financing
• implementation arrangements
• draft multilateral, bilateral and service agency agreements
• draft loan agreement with Bangladesh
• draft grant agreements with Bhutan and Nepal

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Finalized

• SASEC Information Highway Project document
• multilateral, bilateral and service agency agreements
• loan and grant agreements with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal

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The meeting will bring together around 20-25 participants from the SASEC participating countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) and ADB comprising:

• Country Advisor / Alternate from the 4 SASEC countries
• SASEC ICT Working Group Members
• ADB Study and Implementation Team
• ADB Regional Cooperation and Integration Team