March 21, 2008

37th Meeting of APEC TEL to Be Held

The 37th Meeting of the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TEL 37) will be held from March 23 to 28, 2008, at Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo to discuss the future vision toward the realization of the Asia-Pacific Information Society (APIS). The discussion will be conducted in preparation for the 7th APEC Ministerial Meeting of the Telecommunications and Information Industry (TELMIN7), which is to be convened in Thailand from April 23 to 25 this year. Discussions will also be conducted on Universal Service, competition policies, countermeasures against botnets, ensuring of the security of ICT products, human capacity building in the ICT field and so on.

Additionally, a high working-level meeting attended by representatives from the APEC member economies will deliberate the draft ministerial declaration, etc, to be adopted at TELMIN7.

Notes:
APEC: A framework of regional cooperation consisting of 21 member economies in the Asia Pacific region (e.g., USA, Canada, Australia, China, South Korea, Thailand)
Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TEL): A semi-annual working-level meeting in the telecommunications field that is held in a different APEC economy each year on a rotation basis. This year's TEL is the first meeting to be held in Japan since TEL19 in 1999 convened in Miyazaki Prefecture.

1. Meeting schedule
The meeting will be held at Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo from Sunday, March 23 to Friday, March 28, 2008. Concurrently, an exhibition to showcase the latest ICT technologies and services of private companies, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and other entities will be held at the same venue from Tuesday, March 25 to Thursday, March 27.

2. Participants
Government officials responsible for telecommunications and information in the APEC region will participate in the meeting as well as private sector representatives.

3. Key agenda
(1) Discussion towards TELMIN7
High working-level representatives from APEC member economies will discuss the draft ministerial declaration, etc., to be adopted at TELMIN7, which will be held in Thailand from Wednesday, April 23 to Friday, April 25, 2008.
(2) Competition policies to respond to rapid changes in telecommunications technologies
The Liberalization Steering Group (LSG; Deputy Governor: Multilateral Economic Cooperation Office Director NAKANO of MIC) will discuss competition policies, etc., to maintain Universal Service and investment incentives in the IP era.
(3) Discussions on transnational cooperation for information security, etc.
The Security and Prosperity Steering Group (SPSG) will discuss security for ICT products and mobile terminals, countermeasures against botnets, etc.
(4) Discussions on cooperation for technological development
The ICT Development Steering Group (DSG) will discuss human capacity building and other topics for bridging digital divide.

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International Policy Division,
International Affairs Department
Telecommunications Bureau, MIC
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