Introduction

The informal meeting with CLMV countries was held on 6 March 2002 as part of the workshop
on "e-ASEAN Implementation" organized jointly by the Department of Business Economics,
Ministry of Commerce and the e-ASEAN Coordination Center.

The meeting was attended by delegates from CLMV countries namely:- Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Viet Nam and delegates from Thailand which is the host country. Besides, The
ambassador of the people's republic of China as one of the ASEAN dialogue partners and the
Office,representatives from the key International agencies: World Bank, Eu's Program Management
Japan International Cooperation Agency also attended the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by the EAWG Chairman (Dr. Pichet Durongkaveroj) who gave the
introduction and explained the objective of the meeting that this meeting was supposed to be the
informal gathering so that members of CLMV countries have opportunity to express themselves
openly and share information on the situation of ICT development in each country, their needs on
capacity building, how to further enhance cooperation among ASEAN members, how to improve
the effective implementation of e-ASEAN Initiative for mutually benefits. This information sharing
session would provide opportunity for the EAWG Chairman to facilitate and help resolve the
problems and obstacles as much as possible.

Sharing the status of ICT development

The discussion started with a briefing among members sharing the status of ICT development in
order to learn from each other the experiences as well as obstacles they encounter so that their diverse
capacity building needs can be realized.

Thailand As the host country, the EAWG Chairman briefed Thailand's experience in the ICT
development that Thailand is now embarking on 2 phases of ICT development.
      First, Thailand has launched the National IT Plan for 2000-2010. The basic guidelines are to
use IT as an instrument to bring the country to the knowledge-based economy. The goal of IT
development is, in fact, not for the sake of IT itself but for the economic and social development
through IT. There are 3 main components of concerns, namely: the Human Capacity Building;
The Innovation; and the Information Technology Development.
     In translating the objectives into actions, the plan focuses on 5 IT issues:- e-Government;
e-Industry; e-Commerce; e-Society; and e-education. The National Information and Technology
Committee has been set up and now chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister since it is recognized that
IT is a multi-ministry and cross-cutting issue. The government has also endorsed different
sub-committees to work in details regarding those specific issues. The concern over digital divide is
addressed under the issue of e-Society by which key measures such as "Telecenter" has been
investigated in order to make full utilization of the telecommunication infrastructure to disperse the
knowledge to communities and villages so that villagers can make use of IT as a self-help mechanism.
     Second, Thailand is during the transition period of liberalizing telecommunication sector. Transfer
and operator law and other related laws as well as the independent regulator are being developed to
facilitate the privatization process. Thailand's telecommunication market is planned to be opened up
by the year 2006 in accordance with the commitment under WTO rules. At the same time, in order to
strengthen the telecom market, key related laws are under the development process including cyber-
crime law, consumer protection law, etc.

Cambodia After the 34th AEM, Cambodia set up the e-ASEAN working Group in Cambodia but it
is still going in a slow process. Since 2001, it has also established the National ICT Development
Association (NIDA) led by the Prime Minister to draft the ICT Master Plan as well as the establishment
of the Government Administration Information System (GAIS). The ICT Master Plan focused on 4
areas:- e-Government; e-Residence; e-Real Estate; and e-Development. The challenges facing Cambodia
now are the issues of ICT Human resources Development; and the problem of know-how because of
low technical skills.

Laos The ICT development in Laos is at the very first stage. The country is encountering many
problems such as lack of infrastructure; lack of skilled human resources, and lack of legal framework
etc. There is no ICT curriculum at the primary and secondary education. There is no professional IT in
the universities. Only private sector organizations offered basic training in ICT. However, The public
awareness is rather very high. Some ministries are planning to set up the intranet. The number of
Internet caf?s is increasing very fast. Unfortunately, there is no ICT master plan yet. The issue of
e-commerce is very new. There is much need in the development of cyber law for the e-ASEAN
Initiative.

Myanmar The government now recognizes that ICT is the key for economic and social development.
Myanmar is under the process of ICT development. The Internet Task Force has been set up. The ICT
Park has been established in order to concentrate those infrastructures relating ICT in one place. The
infrastructure and e-Commerce laws are being drafted. However, the cyber law is not going to be
materialized very soon and Myanmar will need technical assistance on this issue. Most serious problem
Myanmar faces is the qualification of human resources in ICT.

Viet Nam The Viet Nam Master Plan for IT consists of 5 key programs, namely: - human resource
development in ICT; upgrading of infrastructure; the development of software industry; The development
of hardware and the acceleration of the development in ICT. In trying to attract foreign investment in
ICT, Viet Nam has provided incentives for investors such as tax preference. One of the challenges that
can be seen in the future is how to develop ICT in Viet Nam particularly the human resource development.
The development of IT needs experts while the production of IT manpower from the universities in
the country can not meet the demands from the industries due to the low quality of education and
training in ICT. The other challenges are the very high cost of Internet usage which has resulted in the
low utilization of the Internet as well as the lack of laws and regulations in ICT.
     Regarding the organization in charge, now the IT issue is handled under 2 ministries:-
the telecommunication and the environment ministries but a specific IT ministry is aimed to be
established like in the case of Thailand in the near future.

In conclusion there are some common factors/characteristics that New ASEAN members share in
particular:- the lack of skilled human resources/experts in the area of ICT; the insufficient distribution
of basic infrastructure which causes the big gap of digital divide as well as the opportunity to boost
the domestic demand on ICT consumption; high cost of Internet usage; the lack of experts in ICT
laws development while the privatization of ICT industries are under the process; It should be noted
in addition that every country puts emphasis on the aim to promote software ICT industry in the very
near future.

Concerns raised among members
The CLMV countries had opportunity to express their concerns on the issue of ICT development and
the meeting exchanged and shared their views on how to resolve the problems as followed:-

The impact of liberalization The great concerns of CLMV countries are the
negative impact of the liberalization for fear that the quick liberalization in ICT when the countries are
not well prepared will destroy the domestic industries and the overall economic growth of the countries.
However, the meeting shared the experience witnessed in both the developed and developing countries
that trade liberalization will eventually benefit the countries in the long run since the lower prices of ICT
products will encourage the consumption of IT and the people and society as a whole will finally be
enriched. The knowledgeable people and workforce is the key for enhancing competitiveness of the
country in the world of globalization. At the same time, free flow of trade is directly linked to direct
foreign investment which usually comes with technology transfer. The point is how well the country
can prepare for the adverse affects during the transition period. The government should decide how to
position the country and invent appropriate policy measures to take care of the industries or sectors it
would like them to be replenished.

Concerns over the issues of the development of e-Commerce The meeting
exchanged view on the issue of e-Commerce and the precautions are raised on the 2 key concerns in
the process of e-Commerce development. First, the integration of sales and services. Second, the
volume of products offered through the Internet and speed of sending the products since buyers are
always curious to get their products as soon as possible with their satisfaction being guaranteed. In this
respect, the CLMV as much as other countries should be aware that the setting up of website together
with the access to the Internet is only the first and initial step of achievement in promoting e-commerce.

Concerns over the promotion of Internet usage The members shared
experiences among each other and agreed that the most crucial step in promoting Internet for the
development of knowledge-based economy is not only providing infrastructure so that people can get
access to the service but the content itself which should be developed appropriately with the country's
stage of development. The development of local content and language software includes the issue of
language software development are still the big problems in many of CLMV countries.

Concerns over the effective implementation of e-ASEAN Initiative among
CLMV countries Considering the high expectation on effective participation of e-ASEAN Initiative
among CLMV countries, the questions arose when there is still a diverse stage of development and
there seems to be insufficient financial support to run the projects. The solution from the sharing showed
that, in fact, the real cause of the problem is not the money but it is how to manage the use of scarce
resources both in ASEAN as much as in each country. The key point is the lack of a good package of
projects to propose to the possible and available funding sources. There still seems to be no flagship
to agree upon among AEAN themselves. This situation reaffirms the need for the outcome of the
strategic review of e-ASEAN Work Program so that projects/ activities are streamlined and prioritized
as well as the need for the more effective management. With respect to the latter issue, the decision
had been made to appoint the country project coordinator to manage the e-ASEAN Initiative in each
country on a full time basis and build network among ASEAN members. If these mechanisms are not
truly implemented, the effective implementation of e-ASEAN Initiative will not be able to be expected.
Besides, in considering the implementation of e-ASEAN Initiative, the IAI work program with respect
to ICT development has to be taken into account within the same package of e-ASEAN activities in
order to avoid duplication. The capacity building needs should reflect the felt needs of each CLMV
countries which are different regarding their different circumstance and stage of development. However,
the same application for all is that a comprehensive plan is needed and have to be implemented in the
long term process.

Concerns over the participation of the private sector The meeting agreed that
private sector plays a key role in propelling the economic growth of the countries and therefore the
private sector involvement in e-ASEAN projects is crucial to realize their impacts on the economy.
However, the more important points are how to sustain its role especially from the proposed projects
under the management of the Task Force in the long run and how those existing projects are useful for
the ASEAN-wide purposes.

Framework for closer coordination

The meeting discussed and shared views on how to develop better and closer coordination in order
to bridge the digital divide and to achieve the goals of e-ASEAN Framework Agreement.

Models and approaches for cooperation in ICT development: Taking into
account the concerns CLMV have addressed above, the meeting agreed that the synergy for closer
cooperation to bridge the digital divide is needed. Besides bilateral approach, there are some other
models worth exploring such as:-

      Extending deeper cooperation among ASEAN members to complement the disadvantage within
one country A good example that should be raised here is the possibility of cooperation between
Myanmar and Thailand in the development of ICT software industry. Since Myanmar is rich in English
qualification of human resource, while Thailand has larger ICT market both domestic and potential
export market, the joint venture investment in software industry can be experiment exploiting the
strength of Myanmar human resource to capture the Thai market. Regarding the visible and indispensable
tougher competition between ASEAN and the outsider, it is therefore ideal that CLMV and ASEAN
countries seek closer cooperation and move forward as a team or a group so that some strength can
be explored from that approach.


      Extending the cooperation beyond ASEAN +3 approach Regarding the advantages and
         disadvantages of the ASEAN as a group comparing to other regions/ countries, it would be
         rational to explore deeper and closer cooperation beyond the group of ASEAN +3. The
         possibilities are as follows:-

             ð The cooperation with India :- Since by the end of this year ASEAN is going to extend
                the relationship with India, it is therefore timely to initiate appropriate cooperative projects
                with India regarding ICT products. Taking into account the advantage of India in its
                progress in software industry development, India should be able to organize the commercial
                training course on ICT as well as the joint investment in software industry through soft-loan
                lending or outsourcing of fund. There should also be possibility to invite India to join the
                EAWG meeting indicating the members' interest in having his presence in ASEAN together
                with other dialogue partners.

             ð The cooperation with CER group:- As a matter of fact, the ASEAN has extended its
                relationship with the CER group regarding general economic and social issues through the
                coordination of Ministry of Foreign Affair except in the area of e-ASEAN Initiative. There is
                also plenty of rooms to seek cooperation in the area of ICT development. The point is only
                how can we streamline the priorities of our needs as a group so that the cooperation and
                technical assistance be focused and fruitful.


      Multilateral approach and ASEAN-Wide projects:- Besides the concerns of individual member's
interest in ICT development, e.g., the specific relationship between the donor and the recipient such as
Thailand and any specific CLMV, emphasis should also be placed on the "ASEAN-Wide" cooperation
by extending those specific projects/ programs to the rest of ASEAN members. For example, the
setting up of consortium or network on ASEAN SchoolNets. These ASEAN-Wide activities seem to
have a longer and sustainable impact on the ASEAN societies as a whole in enhancing the region's
competitiveness while bridging the digital divide within the region.

Leadership is important the meeting agreed that there may be need to identify the
key leaders and organize a special training course for them in order to try to convince them the importance
of ICT sector and its development in enhancing the country's competitiveness

Roles of International agencies and Dialogue partners

The meeting had the opportunity to exchange views with the representatives from key international
agencies and the dialogue partners on the possibilities to seek technical assistance from them and pool
scarce resources.

China The ambassador of China kindly joined the meeting and addressed China's
great concern on the issue of ICT development especially for CLMV countries. According to H.E.
ambassador, China attaches importance to EAWG+3 meeting mechanism and is conducting due steps
and pragmatic implementation to broaden the scope of cooperation for the brighter future of ASEAN
and China.

The Program management office of the European Union (PMO) The European
Union (EU) launched the Asia IT&C program in 1999 in order to co-finance mutually beneficial
partnerships in ICT between Europe and Asia. The main objective is to promote cooperation between
non-profit organizations in Europe and Asia particularly SMEs in 8 areas /sectors with application of
ICT, namely:- society, e-commerce, education, transport, health, agriculture, tourism, i-manufacturing.

Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) Regarding the issue of ICT,
JICA provides both hard and soft part of technical assistance. The hard part are for example:- the
J-net, long distance learning program, sattlelite establishment center. Among the ASEAN countries,
in the past ,JICA assistance concentrated in the Philippines and Thailand. Now it is planning to move
on to CLMV countries in due course such as in the area of computer and teaching machine for human
resource development program. Among the CLMV countries, now JICA center has been established
in Laos, Viet Nam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

World Bank The Bank provides financial support (both lending and non-lending)
for projects under ICT sector under the administration of the multi-donor Information for Development
Grants (infoDev), Public-Private Information Advisory Facility (PPIAF) programs, bilateral trust funds,
as well as the Bank Institutional Development Fund (IDF). The Bank's assistance is not supposed to be
tailored to the recipients but depends on their own drives or needs.

In summary There is opportunity for CLMV as well as other ASEAN countries to seek financial support
in the area of ICT development. It is more the matter of having the synergy and the concrete project
proposals to apply for it. It is also reminded that all the international agencies have their own rules and
regulations and need proper procedures of applications for the assistance.