The International Conference for Asia Broadband Strategy (second meeting)
Summary of Minutes

1. Date and time      December 16, 2002, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. 2. Venue      Mita Kaigisho (International Conference Room) 3. Attendants    (1) Members (alphabetical order)    Prof. Royol CHITRADON, Prof. GOTO Shigeki, Mr. KANAI Tsutomu, Mr. LIM Kian Soon, Mr. LIU Dong, Mr. MORISHITA Yoichi, Prof. MURAI Jun, Prof. Yong-Jin PARK, Prof. Sureswaran RAMADASS, Mr. SASAKI Hajime, Mr. SUZUKI Koichi, Mr. SUZUKI Masanobu, Mr. USHIO Jiro, Prof. Lawrence WONG, Ms. YANG Liansi (2) MPHPT    Minister KATAYAMA Toranosuke; Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination TSUKIO Yoshio, Ph.D.; Mr. MORI Kiyoshi, Director-General of the International Affairs Department; Mr. SUZUKI Yasuo, Director-General of the Telecommunications Business Department; Mr. OKAYAMA, Director, International Policy Division; Mr. ASAMI, Director, International Cooperation Division; and Others 4. Agenda    (1) Opening (2) Explanation on the Report of the "Study Group on the Asia Broadband Program"    Member GOTO, Chair of the "Study Group on the Asia Broadband Program," explained the outline of the Report, then, the Secretariat presented details thereof. (3) Opinion exchanges, etc.    President LU Shyue-Ching of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. who attended this conference as a guest made a presentation on policy measures for promoting broadband, focusing on the "e-Taiwan Project."   The Asia-Pacific region is the only region in the world where developed countries/economies, exemplified by Japan and the Republic of Korea, and developing countries/economies are mixed within the same region. As such, with respect to roles and responsibilities toward the world to be taken by Asia, discussions on Asia shall be made from a global viewpoint.   In the digital age, it is vital to prepare legal frameworks covering intellectual property rights. Thus, in Asia including developing countries/economies, Asia's roles and responsibilities toward the world are to establish cultures/practices concerning intellectual property rights.   Efforts toward the global governance shall be emphasized. With regard to the Internet, ICANN and IETF are working on various standards. Thus, it is essential for the private and public sectors and academia in Asian countries/economies to contribute to such standardization efforts being carried out at those organizations.   It shall be clearly expressed that diffusion and promotion of the Internet are to be led by the private sector.   In reality, a de facto common language is English. In consideration of the multilingual environment, it is vital for Japan to diffuse Kanji (Chinese characters) digital processing technologies developed by Japan, to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.   Upon preparation of legal schemes, due respect to legal frameworks and political systems of each country/economy shall be paid.   In the Asian-Pacific region, situations and problems unique to each country/economy vary greatly from country to country. Because of such diversities, there lies a difficulty in Asia in implementing proposals contained in this Report without variation. It is necessary that the proposals are to be positioned as moderate guidelines then concrete challenges are to be contained in each country/economy's plan. It is also important that developing and developed countries/economies learn from each other making use of opportunities such as the International Conference for Asia Broadband Strategy   Since preparation of frameworks administering intellectual property rights is of crucial importance, from now on both private and public sectors shall make concerted efforts to implement the preparation thereof.   Asian countries/economies have strong intentions to make use of ICT as catalysts for national and economic development. Thus, it is essential to devise possible and suitable support measures for contributing to the viewpoint of "ICT for economic development."   Prior to the full deployment of broadband platforms, desirable contents and applications for broadband shall be deliberated now.   Although traffic between Japan-China, Japan-Korea and Japan-Taiwan is extremely large, policies being taken by those countries are different from each other. Measures shall be clearly organized on how to introduce broadband, what is to be realized after the full deployment of broadband, and what kind of roles Japan can play in the multilingual environment.   Hybridization of mobile communications and digital technologies shall be placed at a high priority.   Efforts to implement the "e-Asia" shall be strengthened. In particular, challenges to be stressed are standardization, protection of intellectual property rights, introduction of new products, and tie-ups concerning services, among research institutes and businesses.   In the Asia-Pacific region, as there are many countries/economies that cannot deploy broadband platforms without support from governments, concerted efforts between the public and private sectors are indispensable as measures for promoting broadband.   As regards IPv6, countries/economies in the Asia-Pacific region shall expedite technological development thereon in a cooperative and collaborative manner, so as to lead the world.   With regard to Chapter III "Concrete Measures to Be Taken," it is vital to take actions for implementing them in the real sense. (4) Summary of the chair    Following the explanation of the Summary of the Chair (draft) by the Secretariat, this Conference recognized that opinions stated today at the Opinion Exchange Session are to be considered upon taking concrete actions in accordance with this Report. Then, it was approved that the draft will be announced as an output of this Conference. The Summary of the Chair was handed from Mr. USHIO to Minister KATAYAMA. (5) Closing    At the closing of the Conference meeting, Minister KATAYAMA made the closing address.