SUMMARY RECORD OF
THE e-ASEAN WORKING GROUP (EAWG)
STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING
8-10 July 2002, Bangkok, Thailand

INTRODUCTION

The Strategic Planning Meeting of the e-ASEAN Working Group (EAWG) was held on 8-10 July 2002
in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was conducted to produce a strategic plan for the e-ASEAN work
program to be presented at the SEOM 4/33 and AEM meetings as agreed in the 11th EAWG Meeting in
Singapore.

The Meeting was attended by delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. Dr. Emmanuel Lallana, Executive Director of
EATF, several EATF members, several experts from the member countries, and staff members of the
ASEAN Secretariat were also in attendance.

The Meeting was conducted in brainstorming sessions and was chaired by Dr. Pichet Durongkaveroj,
Senior Advisor, National Electronic and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), Thailand.

The list of delegates appears as ANNEX 1.

REVIEW OF GLOBAL ICT MOVEMENT

The EAWG Chairman briefed the meeting on the working paper prepared by e-ASEAN Coordination
Center, Thailand as jointly appears as ANNEX 2. He briefed the meeting on the review of the global ICT
movements, preliminary analysis of SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and the strategic
action plan. He informed the meeting on the need to have the global picture of ICT development to
enlighten the working group initiatives in moving the e-ASEAN framework agreement agenda forward.
He briefed the meeting on the result of a brainstorming session previously conducted by Thailand in listing
the global ICT movement; a preliminary search results of some international ICT organisations and their
mandates, objectives, strategies, work programs, and activities including G8/DOT Force, UNCTAD, WTO,
WEF, APEC, ITU, OECD, and UNCITRAL; matrix of the implications from the global ICT movement; matrix
review of the e-ASEAN work program; and the regional integration status of the engagement with the
dialog partners.

The ASEAN Secretariat briefed the meeting on various ASEAN cooperation programs and activities
that may be accelerated by ICT for consideration as e-ASEAN high-impact project. These are projects
which could be considered strategic and have clear project outputs, identified project proponents, and
secured or prospective funding. The matrix of 'ICT Related Project in ASEAN' appears as ANNEX 3.

The meeting brainstormed on the big picture of the global ICT development, international organizations
dealing with ICT matters, their activities, and issues raised. From the global players, the meeting then
discussed organizations closer to ASEAN including the dialog partners, and then identified those
organizations with potential sources of funding. The result of the brainstorming appears jointly as
ANNEX 4.

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE BIG PICTURE

The meeting shared their observations on the big picture as follows:

Duplication. The meeting noted some degree of duplication in moving the ICT agenda across the world
and there are a lot of opportunities for synergy, collaboration in government to government, private-sector
and multilateral agencies, and opportunities to tap into the global funding. At the same time the meeting
also noted that although there are a lot of organizations doing a lot of activities, there is a little knowledge
of the outcomes and achievements from these global activities. Therefore, the meeting noted the need
for e-ASEAN to be aware of their progress and outcomes.

Learning Opportunities. The meeting observed that there are lots of opportunities to learn from ICT
activities around the world. There was observation on the unique characteristics of some organizations
that appears to be moving faster than others. EAWG could learn from their best practices and set them
as benchmarks; examine their organisational structure, their modalities, their budgeting support and
management; and accumulate their research and studies result in EAWG's knowledge bank.

Branding. The meeting noted that whilst there are a lot of ICT activities happening in the world, only
a few came to mind perhaps because they are better branded. Therefore, the meeting considered
branding as an issue in e-ASEAN to be developed further to increase her leverage in collaborating
with global ICT organizations in the future.

Sponsorship. The meeting observed that many of the successful global activities and organisations
receive clear executive sponsorship, mostly by the leaders of countries.

Funding. The meeting observed different funding schemes in different organizations such as
centralised and membership funding. The meeting discussed on APEC funding model which has a
small central funding scheme and member funded activities. The meeting noted that this could be
used as a model for funding e-ASEAN activities.

Awareness. The meeting observed some global ICT activities are more prominent than
others because they are supported by sufficient awareness program. EAWG could learn from
their awareness program and be more proactive in its involvement in regional and sub regional
ICT activities. Publications of e-ASEAN activities were also considered as a good strategy to inform
others of e-ASEAN existence and accomplishment as well as to increase its credibility.

Authority. The meeting exchanged views on whether e-ASEAN has enough authority to deliver
its mandate and whether it has an enabling organisation structure and memberships.

ASEAN Niches. There was a suggestion to look internally of what ASEAN has to offer as a
comparative advantage such as its culture, manpower, and solidarity that could be used as leverage
in attracting strategic partners.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

The meeting brainstormed on the key success factors which would enable the e-ASEAN initiative
to move forward, some of which are described as follows:

Commitment. The meeting noted that strong commitment is required beyond political conformity of
e-ASEAN Framework Agreement to proactively support the e-ASEAN activities in operational and
implementation level. The support should at least include the establishment of enabling e-ASEAN
organisational structure, effective management, and sufficient funding to execute its activities.

Accountability. The meeting observed that under the present arrangement, there are multiple
agencies responsible for ICT activities in ASEAN. Some ASEAN ICT activities are being reported to
AEM, other projects such as those under IAI arrangement and donor countries' driven projects are
reported to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, and some others to the ASEAN Telecommunications
Ministers. This multiple accountability creates coordination problems and may dilute further the
already scarce resources available.

Authority. The meeting noted that for e-ASEAN to become an ICT mover with regional authority its
membership has to be represented by appropriate ICT agencies from the member countries and its
activities should be governed by the right ministerial level body or council. The executive sponsorship
of this level would strengthen the e-ASEAN organisational structure and subsequently enable e-ASEAN
to exercise more meaningful activities and generate sufficient funding. The sponsorship would also
determine the representative body that can be made accountable for the successful implementation of
e-ASEAN initiative. AFTA was discussed as a precedent of a successful project implementation with
organisational structure supporting its activities including its AFTA Council. In this regard the meeting
agreed to propose the establishment of an e-ASEAN Council with ministerial level representation.
Although many agree that TELMIN should be included as members of the council, others felt that in
other countries ICT is handled by different ministries. Hence the meeting agreed that the e-ASEAN
Council membership should be left to the Leaders to decide.

Funding. The meeting agreed that availability of funds and a fast-track fund approval process are key to
accelerating the implementation of e-ASEAN programmes and projects. At present, funding for e-ASEAN
projects are drawn from the limited ASEAN Fund and the project-by-project contributions from various
ASEAN dialogue partners. The relatively low annual quantum of funds available from the ASEAN Fund,
which e-ASEAN projects have to compete against all other ASEAN projects, has imposed an unrealistic
cap on funding for e-ASEAN projects. Soliciting funds from dialogue partners has also proved difficult as
there is little or no co-funding from ASEAN governments to show commitment. The current arrangement
of submitting project proposals for funding approval has also resulted in lengthy delays that have stretched
to half a year or longer. In the new economy, by the time these funds are approved, the technologies
supporting the projects could have been obsolete. Fund-dependent e-ASEAN projects would not get
implemented effectively or slow in progress as they did not get the necessary funding on time. In order to
realise the bold vision of e-ASEAN, which has, unfortunately, been plodding along slowly due to lack of
funding and resources, it is imperative that ASEAN member countries commit to setting up a dedicated
e-ASEAN Fund with a special fast-track approval mechanism. In this regard the meeting agreed to
integrate the funding paper that has been consolidated by Brunei to the Strategic paper.

Clear Agenda. The meeting noted that e-ASEAN Framework Agreement needs to be elaborated with
a clear agenda and timeline showing exactly what to achieve, when, how, and with how much investment.
The Framework Agreement needs to be made into an actionable agenda.

Success Measurement. The meeting agreed that the results of e-ASEAN initiatives need to be
continually monitored to indicate how far the e-ASEAN objectives have been achieved. Pilot project
successwas suggested as one measurement considering whether they are moving forward, whether
they can find the required funding, and whether they have achieved some of their goals.

Focus. Although e-ASEAN carries a vast mandate, it should focus on achieving some realistic
objectives judging from its human resources capacity and funding availability.

STOCK TAKING OF ICT AGENCIES IN MEMBER ECONOMIES

Member countries shared information on existing agencies driving ICT agenda. From the list of
organizations produced in the information sharing, the meeting observed that there is some
commonality across the member countries of he existence of a National ICT Council, although they
may appear in different forms. The meeting agreed that these agencies could be potential allies to
e-ASEAN agenda and hence a concise marketing effort by EAWG need to be undertaken for this
purpose.

NEW ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE TO ENABLE e-ASEAN INITIATIVE

Based on the results of the brainstorming session, listed observations, key success factors, and
the list of ICT agencies in all ASEAN member countries, the meeting agreed that to accelerate the
e-ASEAN implementation, a new and enabling organisational structure needs to be established.

Malaysia informed the meeting that she is working on a proposal to initiate a similar organisational
restructuring for ICT/e-ASEAN activities in ASEAN to be considered at the next TELSOM/TELMIN
meeting in August 2002 in Manila. Malaysia briefed the meeting that she has modelled her e-ASEAN
Center proposal after the ASEAN Center for Energy as a precedent and suggests that a similar
endowment fund be proposed to support the operation of the e-ASEAN Center.

The meeting exchanged views on the matter and proposed other possible organisational structures,
taking into account Malaysian's draft proposal, and finally agreed on the an organisational structure as
appears as ANNEX 5.

The meeting agreed on the need for extensive lobbying efforts to SEOM/AEM and TELSOM/TELMIN
members in order for realize the restructuring initiative. Therefore, courtesy calls and lobbying to the
relevant ICT agencies within each member economies were proposed to be done by all EAWG members.
The visits could be used to introduce e-ASEAN activities as well as to convey the new restructuring
initiativeso as to gain their support. The meeting agreed to commence the lobbying effort prior to the next
SEOM/AEM and TELSOM/TELMIN meetings in August 2002.

There was also a suggestion to conduct an informal meeting of relevant ICT agencies from all ASEAN
members as a starting point for the formation of the new e-ASEAN organisation and as a means to get
suitable memberships from these organizations.


PROPOSAL: e-ASEAN STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES

The meeting agreed to consolidate a proposal for an 'e-ASEAN Strategic Implementation Plan' built
around the proposed e-ASEAN Council structure. The plan will take into account the inputs from Malaysia's
proposal, the Brunei funding paper - focusing on the endowment fund approach- the strategic planning
results, sherpas' proposed new Terms of Reference for each of the working groups, and EATF proposal
on the 'ASEAN Advisory Board'. The meeting agreed that the same proposal will be tabled at both
SEOM/AEM by Chairman of EAWG and TELSOM/TELMIN by Malaysia. The meeting further agreed on
the deadline of inputs submission by July 16th and first draft circulation by July 23rd, to be ready for SEOM
4/33 on August 6th and the 3rd TELSOM on August 23rd. The following division of work was agreed:

EAWG Secretariat to consolidate the proposal

Malaysia with assistance from the ASEAN Secretariat to modify the Malaysian proposal

Brunei to adjust the funding proposal

EATF Secretariat to submit their inputs on 'ASEAN Advisory Body'

Each Sherpa to submit the Terms of Reference for each respective working group under the new
structure.

DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING

The meeting agreed to hold the 12th EAWG Meeting back to back with the 13th EATF Meeting in
Bangkok Thailand on 17-21 October 2002.