1st Taskforce Meeting: Regional Approaches ICTs
ICT Taskforce Meeting
35/06
27th July 2006
FIRST MEETING OF TASKFORCE ON REGIONAL APPROACHES TO ICTs
The Taskforce on Regional Approaches to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the Pacific convened its inaugural meeting on 22 July 2006 in Suva, Fiji.
The meeting was chaired by Tonga and attended by representatives from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Observers to the meeting included the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA), South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO).
The Taskforce was established at the Pacific Islands Forum Information and Communications Technologies Ministers' Meeting, held in Wellington, New Zealand in March of this year.
A key objective of the Taskforce is to investigate the potential for developing regional approaches to ICTs to further the implementation of the Pacific Plan and the Regional Digital Strategy.
Preceding the Taskforce meeting was a series of meetings; a two-day regulatory forum followed by a three-day workshop on regulation.
The meeting provided excellent opportunities to discuss the issues and pressing needs facing Pacific island countries, and set the foundations for the penultimate Taskforce meeting.
Presentations at the Taskforce meeting included an overview of the outcomes of the 2006 Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) work on economic regulation; and an overview of the establishment of the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) as a means to looking at how a regional initiative for regulatory development and harmonisation has taken effect, and a proposal on a possibility of an ICT resource centre for the Pacific.
Connectivity issues, adapting and new technologies, human resource development and institutional capacity were key and common areas for discussion and recognition that further work in these areas could possibly be explored by way of regional (whether in clusters, subregional etc) approaches.
The Taskforce is scheduled to meet again in October 2006 in Nadi, Fiji, after which it is expected to submit its findings to the Forum Leaders at their meeting in October of this year.
Ends.
For more information, please contact Mr John Budden, the Forum's Economic Infrastructure Adviser on phone: (679) 331 2600
35/06
27th July 2006
FIRST MEETING OF TASKFORCE ON REGIONAL APPROACHES TO ICTs
The Taskforce on Regional Approaches to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the Pacific convened its inaugural meeting on 22 July 2006 in Suva, Fiji.
The meeting was chaired by Tonga and attended by representatives from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Observers to the meeting included the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA), South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO).
The Taskforce was established at the Pacific Islands Forum Information and Communications Technologies Ministers' Meeting, held in Wellington, New Zealand in March of this year.
A key objective of the Taskforce is to investigate the potential for developing regional approaches to ICTs to further the implementation of the Pacific Plan and the Regional Digital Strategy.
Preceding the Taskforce meeting was a series of meetings; a two-day regulatory forum followed by a three-day workshop on regulation.
The meeting provided excellent opportunities to discuss the issues and pressing needs facing Pacific island countries, and set the foundations for the penultimate Taskforce meeting.
Presentations at the Taskforce meeting included an overview of the outcomes of the 2006 Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) work on economic regulation; and an overview of the establishment of the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) as a means to looking at how a regional initiative for regulatory development and harmonisation has taken effect, and a proposal on a possibility of an ICT resource centre for the Pacific.
Connectivity issues, adapting and new technologies, human resource development and institutional capacity were key and common areas for discussion and recognition that further work in these areas could possibly be explored by way of regional (whether in clusters, subregional etc) approaches.
The Taskforce is scheduled to meet again in October 2006 in Nadi, Fiji, after which it is expected to submit its findings to the Forum Leaders at their meeting in October of this year.
Ends.
For more information, please contact Mr John Budden, the Forum's Economic Infrastructure Adviser on phone: (679) 331 2600
