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Right to left: H.E. Mr Wisber Loeis, ASEAN Foundation; Mr Pietro Sicuro Francophonie Institute of New Information Technologies; H.E. Prof. Dr Ruben Umaly, ASEAN Foundation; Vice Rector Claude-Yves Charron, Orbicom; H.E. Mr Ong Keng Yong, ASEAN; Ms Maria Ng Lee Hoon, IDRC, Mr Shahid Akhtar (not in the picture), APDIP-UNDP.

Internet governance, digital inequalities, and economics of the services sector will be the focus of the 2005/2006 edition of the Digital Review of Asia Pacific. This was decided during a three-day meeting of the panel of authors held in Jakarta from 27-29 February 2004. The meeting was opened by H.E. Mr Ong Keng Yong, Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The ASEAN Foundation was the local host.

Two other crosscutting issues will also be addressed in depth by the next edition: the social and political impact of ICTs, and appropriate ICTs, open source, localisation, and internationalisation. These five themes were the focus of a one-day working session involving all the participating authors.

The next edition will also provide updated chapters on the 27 economies covered in the current publication. Iran and Maldives will be covered for the first time, bringing the total number of economies reviewed to 29. The special regional chapter for the Pacific Islands will be expanded to cover 20 states and territories from the 14 currently reviewed. The 2005/2006 edition is therefore expected to review a total of 49 economies and territories.

The authors visited a telecentre established for street kids during their stay in Indonesia. They also had the privilege of holding a dialogue session with a group of senior Indonesian ICT experts on the state-of-application of the new technologies and Internet access in the country. The authors were highly impressed by their Indonesian colleagues' use of appropriate technologies and self-sustaining business models in the growth of a vibrant online community.

2004-03-15

News 23 of 50