OPENING REMARKS

Delivered by Mr. Roberto R. Romulo, Chairman of e-ASEAN Task Force On the occasion of the First e-ASEAN Task Force Meeting

March 2, 2000, Shangri-La Hotel

Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, as Chair of the e-ASEAN Task Force I'd like to welcome you this morning as we begin our formidable task towards the development of an ASEAN e-space or e-ASEAN. As many of you know, during the ASEAN Informal Summit in November last year, our leaders indicated to the world the importance with which they held the developments in information technology by holding the first-ever dialogue with private sector it leaders from around the region. The ASEAN leaders were very clear in their interest to move the region as a

whole into the information age, to reduce the digital divide and to help all ASEAN citizens benefit from the opportunities of the Internet world. From that Informal Summit was born the e-ASEAN task force, which is a high-level advisory body whose mandate is to develop a broad and comprehensive action plan with the objective of evolving an ASEAN e-space, and to develop competencies within ASEAN to compete in the global information economy. This is the first time that an advisory body exists where each ASEAN leader has appointed a private sector and a public sector official to sit together to discuss and recommend policies and program of action that will develop the necessary physical, legal, logistical, social and economic infrastructure needed to successfully compete in the new information economy. This will also the first time that an ASEAN advisory body will have to move at the speed of the Internet. Given the enormity of our task and the short time we have to fulfil it, the only way for us to succeed is if we move on 'Internet time'. While full of promise, the e-conomy of the 21st century is at the same time fraught with the risk that it will divide the world into new classes of economies - the "it haves" and the "it have nots" - just as earlier we had "industrial and non-industrial" economies. When industrial capacity was the benchmark for economic might, the number of machine tools or automobiles was used as indicators of economic capacity. Today the indicators are numbers of computers in use and the ease of access to information services such as the telephone or Internet cafe. As is apparent to all us, many of us in ASEAN fall in the wrong side of this emergent digital divide. Fortunately, the technology that today threatens to further widen the gap between the information-rich and information-poor countries is the very same technology to achieving a more balanced global society. Development is people. It is not resources, not historical accident, not culture. So until people get access to information and knowledge and applications, no real development will take root. The fact is the cost of the new technology is becoming more and more affordable. Developing countries have an advantage in not being saddled with legacy systems and infrastructure and can therefore leapfrog into the newest technology. And the beauty of this technology is that it is global and can be applied nearly anywhere in the world. It is the professional skills - the creativity and the commitment to the challenge that count. So to me achieving digital equality is a question of seizing the opportunities offered by the new technologies. It is a matter of political priorities and the utilization of skills and knowledge that we have. It needs visionary and brave leaders who will concentrate on opportunities instead of ruing their backwardness. Fortunately, we have such leaders who recognize this fact. This is why we have gathered here today to fulfill the mandate they have given to provide advice and recommendations on how we can bring ASEAN forward into this brave new digital world under a strong public-private sector partnership. So in the next two days we will begin to look at fundamental policy issues that must be addressed if ASEAN is to become it enabled and become a meaningful participant of the digital society of the future.