Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Hyderabad to host Asian IT Ministers' summit

By M. Rajeev

VIJAYAWADA Dec. 18. After the prestigious Youth Employment Summit regional forum meeting, Hyderabad is set to host the second Asia Information Technology Ministers' Summit on January 12 and 13. The summit is aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Asian countries in the Information Technology and Communications sector and drawing action plan to bridge the divide. The main objectives of the summit are to further the usage of IT for economic development of developing countries, deploy IT for improving living standards, use of e-governance for better facilities to people and bridging the digital divide by evolving action plans on issues like Internet affordability. The first Asian IT Ministers' summit was held in Seoul, South Korea last year. Though the summit was scheduled to be held on November 6 and 7, it was postponed to January as some countries, particularly those from the Middle East, have expressed their inability to attend it in view of the Ramzan month, according to Software Technology Parks of India, Hyderabad, director, Col. Vijaya Kumar.

The summit, being organized by the Union Ministry of Information Technology, will bring together IT Ministers from 46 countries as far and wide as Iran and Japan for exploring ways to collaboratively develop information technology. It is aimed at stimulating trade as well as the research and development activities thus contributing to enhancement of industrial cooperation among the Asian countries in the IT sector. The participants in the summit will deliberate on pertinent issues like bridging the digital divide, standardisation and IT development in Asia, digitisation of culture, construction of broadband network environment in Asia and Internet affordability, management and security. Representatives from different countries would make presentations on various aspects of IT development like `financial solutions to the digital divide' before signing a joint declaration on various issues to ensure uniform practices and trade rules.

The Information Technology and Communications Department secretary, J.C. Mohanty, has told The Hindu that the summit is likely to be inaugurated either by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, or by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee.

A preliminary meeting to review arrangements for the successful conduct of the summit will be held on December 20 wherein different aspects like the topics of discussion, presentations from the Indian side will be finetuned.

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