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( / ' "* (", ) + & ' ' ) 0 , NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR OF BDT REPORT ON PRIVATE SECTOR/SECTOR MEMBERS ACTIVITIES ASIA-PACIFIC REGION 1 Introduction This aims to assist ITU Member States and Sector Members in countries in transition, developing countries and least developed countries through the development and the implementation of strategies and campaigns that promote public and private sector partnerships with ITU/BDT, mobilize all kinds of appropriate additional resources to support ICT/telecommunication development projects and facilitate and strengthen the role of the Asia-Pacific private sector in all BDT programmes, activities and initiatives. 2 2.1 ITU Asia-Pacific Activities on Partnership and Promotion in 2007 ITU Forum of the Regional Working Group (RWG) on Private Sector Issues for Asia and the Pacific Region The Forum was co-organized by ITU and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and hosted by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Government of India, from 3 to 5 April 2007 in New Delhi, India. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/partners/Events/2007/NewDelhi_35Apr07/index.html. The Forum discussed and shared experiences as well as views among ITU Members and non-Members, operators, service providers, technology suppliers, financial and development institutions, regional and international organizations on issues related to “Promoting Low Cost Access to the Unconnected”. Its background papers on Enhancing low cost access & NGN planning, technologies and migration were also published on IETE Journal based on the Copyright Agreement exchanged between ITU and IETE. 2.2 ITU Workshop on IMT-Advanced ITU provided member countries in the Asia-Pacific region through its ASP Regional Office with assistance in their participations at the ITU-R WP8F (18th in Thailand and 19th in France) by coordination and fellowship based on the contributions (which were transferred to the account of Asia-Pacific Ad-Hoc so that the ASP Ad-Hoc funds were added with amount of USD 106,500 to the allocated BDT funds) received from 16 private industries in Japan and R.O.Korea. The remaining funds of 26,000 CHF were supporting 6 additional fellows for their participation at the -2WGPS-08-6/7-E Workshop, which was organized as a back-to-back 20th Meeting of WP8F, in Kyoto, Japan, 22 May 2007. 2.3 ITU/MIC Training on Bridging the Standardization Gap The training was co-organized by ITU, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (MIC) and hosted by the Government of Japan, from 18 to 22 June 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/network-infrastructure/index.html. ITU received financial contribution from MIC in amount of Japanese Yen 12,000,000 to organize the training. In addition, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Japan contributed CHF 40,000 to invite five African delegates to participate in the training. 26 delegates from 23 countries participated in and benefited from the training. 2.4 ITU/DCITA Partnership Project, 9RAS/07/023, on ICT Policy & Regulatory Cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region and addressing the unique ICT needs of the Pacific Island Countries ITU signed the partnership project with the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Australian Government (DCITA) in June 2007 on ICT Policy & Regulatory Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region and addressing the unique ICT needs of the Pacific Island Countries. DCITA contributed US$ 474,394 for implementation of the project starting from July 2007 to June 2008. 2.5 ITU/IDA Executive Training Programme The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and ITU signed MoU to collaborate in developing a new executive training programme in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation. The first executive training programme was conducted in Singapore through Singapore’s e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL) from 30 July to 3 August 2007, of which 33 senior officials from 11 countries participating. 2.6 Regulatory Study Visit in Hong Kong On the basis of partnership between ITU and the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), Hong Kong, 4 officials from regulatory authorities in Bhutan and Nepal visited OFTA from 10 to 13 September 2007 for their hands-on experiences on various regulatory frameworks as well as for sharing difficulties and challenges among the officials during their study visit. 2.7 Partnership with other regional / sub-regional organisations such as APT, PITA, UNESCAP Several events such as APT/ITU workshop on NGN Planning, APT/ITU/PITA workshop on Principles of Cyber legislation for Pacific Island Countries, ITU/ UNESCAP/ APT Capacity Building Workshop on Information Society Statistics: Infrastructure, Household and other Indicators were organized in partnership with other sub-regional organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Regular coordination is carried out to avoid duplication and develop synergies. -3WGPS-08-6/7-E 2.8 ACMA/ITU International Training Programme (ITP) 2007 Australian Communications and Media Authority and ITU organized the “ACMA/ITU International Training Program” from Oct 22 – Nov 2. It comprised of a week’s training on “Regulation of Broadcasting, Telecommunication and On-Line Content” in Melbourne followed by another week on “Spectrum Management” in Canberra. The Regulation module was attended by 47 trainees from 22 countries while the Spectrum Management module trained 59 participants from 25 countries. The action was supported by the Government of Australia through its project 9RAS06021. 2.9 MoUs signed with Five Centre of Excellence (CoE) Nodes in Asia and the Pacific and a CoA was signed with India Under the Project 7RAS07024 (ICTDF), ITU Asia-Pacific Region has revived the Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence through signing MoUs and partnership with all Five CoE Nodes in 2007 alone namely; Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (Policy & Regulation), Ministry of ICT Iran (Spectrum Management), Pusan National University (Technology Awareness), Universiti Utara Malaysia (Rural ICT Development) and Ministry of ICT, Thailand (Business Management). All the five Nodes have conducted one or more face-to-face and/or on-line training courses on the specific areas. In addition, a Co-operation Agreement was also signed with Government of India to strengthen the cooperation on Centre of Excellence. Other potential partners such as Huawei (China), MCMC (Malaysia), Busan Metropolitan City (R.O.Korea) and many other have expressed to be partnering with the relevant Nodes under the ASP CoE Network. 2.10 Cooperation agreement and Project signed between ITU and NTC Thailand for Organizing the Training on “Spectrum Management and Spectrum Transfer” ITU signed the MoU with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Thailand to organize a training on “Spectrum Management and Spectrum Transfer” for staff of NTC. NTC contributed USD 15,950 to ITU for holding the training in December 2007 in Thailand. 2.11 ITU Asia-Pacific Regional Office promoted its functions, activities, publications and events on the UN Day Exhibition on October 24 2007. ITU Asia-Pacific Regional Office participated at the UN Day event with an exhibition organized closer to the communities on October 24 2007 at the Central World Plaza, Bangkok, together with other 25 UN Agencies located in Thailand. It was the first event where ITU Asia-Pacific Regional staff created the promotional panel through close coordination with the relevant teams at HQs, whilst displaying various ITU publications and events to promote ITU. -4WGPS-08-6/7-E 2.12 Partnership for Access to ICT in the Asia-Pacific Region ITU entered into a preliminary agreement with the ITU Association of Japan (ITU-AJ) for collecting used computers from private sector in Japan to donate to requesting developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Technical Cooperation Agreement is being drafted among ITU, ITU-AJ, and BHN Association Japan and will take effect in 2008 for a minimum of 100 computers to be donated. 2.13 ITU/MICT/KOICA/ESCAP Partnership Project on “Mobile Emergency Communications Vehicle and Rural Communication Development in Thailand” As part of Asia-Pacific Regional Initiative especially on Rural Communications, ITU has led to develop a project based on multi-party partnership among ITU, the Ministry of Information Communications and Technology (MICT) of Thailand, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which have in principle agreed. The project worth of US$ 1,406,450 was submitted to the KOICA to raise the funds for the implementation from 2008 to 2009. 3. ITU-D Sector Members in Asia and the Pacific The number of ITU-D Sector Members in Asia and the Pacific is 54 members from 17 countries, of which 6 new members joined the ITU-D Sector in 2007 are: • • • • • • Bharti Airtel Limited (India) (27/04/2007 ) Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute (Israel) (05/11/2007 ) Global Knowledge Partnership (Malaysia) (14/09/2007) Green Packet Berhad (Malaysia) (18/04/2007 ) Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia (Mongolia) (28/05/2007) e Worldwide Group (Pakistan) (12/11/2007)