RETA 5971: Regional Roundtable on Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
RETA 5971: Regional Roundtable on Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Bangalore, India 28-30 August 2001

Post-Workshop Statement

The ICT Regional Roundtable was successfully held in Bangalore from 27-30 August. About 100 participants attended from 10 DMCs, in addition to representatives of 6 multilateral and bilateral development partners. Moreover, all the participants and resource speakers were a very carefully selected focus group of key players in the ICT sector of their respective countries.

The proceedings of the Roundtable were preceded by a welcome dinner and press conference on 27th August. The inaugural session on 28th August was followed by technical sessions over two days, covering a wide range of topics. These included:

Background

The potential of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for economic development is vast. However, the necessary conditions to develop the ICT sector need to be carefully fostered. These include investments in:

technology education and skills
basic infrastructure as well as attracting foreign investment

In less than a decade India has been quite successful in realizing these benefits. The rapidly growing ICT industry in Bangalore and emerging trends in Andhra Pradesh and other other states of India in particular is a major achievement and there is much to learn from this experience.

Objectives

The Roundtable seeks to disseminate the lessons of India's successful ICT experience among countries in the region. It is organized around the following themes:

Development of Telecommunications Infrastructure
Public-private partnership
Human Resources Development
E-government
ICT in poverty reduction
Cyber-laws
Emerging IT opportunities

Participants

Policy makers, experts, private sector representatives and members of civil society from countries in South and South East Asia.

View list of Participants

Workshop Documents

View Program
Read Papers and Presentations

Keynote Address by Mr. Yoshihiro Iwasaki, Director, Programs Department (West), ADB
Theme 1 : Development of Telecommunications Infrastructure
Theme 2 : Public Private Partnership
Theme 3 : Human Resources Development - E-Education and E-Health
Theme 4 : E-Government
Theme 5 : ICT in Poverty Reduction: Bridging the Digital Divide
Theme 6 : Cyber Laws
Theme 7 : Emerging IT Opportunities

See Also ICT Links

What the Press Says

The ADB-sponsored Regional Roundtable turned out to be a major political event in Southern India which received unprecedented media coverage for an event of this nature. The Roundtable was reported as headline news in all the major newspapers and also covered on television.

Contacts

SASEC Secretariat
Asian Development Bank
Tel: (632) 632-5195
Fax: (632) 636-2226
Email: sasec@adb.org
Webpage: South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation

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South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) RETA 5971: Regional Roundtable on Information and Communications Technology (ICT)