IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

ITU and IDA to collaborate to share Singapore’s experience

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the International Telecommunication Union have agreed today to collaborate in developing a new executive training programme in information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation. A Letter of Intent was inked today, following a call for such a collaboration in a speech made earlier this week by Dr Lee Boon Yang, Singapore’s Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya (Turkey), currently in session 6-24 November 2006. It is intended to provide this executive programme through Singapore’s e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL).

"This programme is expected to enable Singapore to share our experience in deploying ICT for the public, private and people sectors," said Dr Lee. "We are very happy to collaborate with ITU to help developing countries catalyze their ICT developments to bridge the Digital Divide". He added that Singapore, with 25 years of experience in developing ICT, is fully aware of the benefits it can bring to social and economic development. "The e-Government Leadership Centre provides a collaborative learning experience. Participants would have the opportunity to study and analyse the Singapore model and to derive relevant strategies for their own country’s ICT development," Dr Lee said.

The "Enabling Frameworks for ICT Development,The Singapore Experience", would be conducted by practitioners from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and its partners at the e-Government Leadership Centre, namely, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Institute of Systems Science in Singapore. Experts from ITU and industry would also be invited as guest speakers. It is the aim of the programme to reach out to developing countries which, like Singapore, are keen to use ICT to further their social and economic growth. The programme is targeting the training of at least thirty to forty participants over the next three years.

"The idea is to provide a programme suited for senior ICT policy-makers and telecoms regulators who are keen to develop their own ICT framework to enable fair, effective and sustainable competition in a multi-operator, multi-network environment," said Dr Kim Eun-Ju, Head of the Asia-Pacific Regional Office. "The programme would cover areas like ICT development policies, regulating a competitive ICT sector, licensing frameworks, dispute resolution procedures, and interconnection."

Singapore is spearheading this initiative as it realizes that ICT development in this fast-changing digital age can pose a formidable challenge for developing states. While the proposed learning model will be based on Singapore’s own Infocomm experience — the issues, the challenges and the successes, the intention is not to promote a single model of ICT development. Rather, the purpose would be to help participants better appreciate the complexities and challenges all countries face in drawing up their own ICT masterplan.

This initiative goes hand-in-hand with the Asia-Pacific Regional Initiative on Telecommunication/ICT Policy and Regulatory Cooperation, which was proposed by the ITU members of the Asia-Pacific region and adopted at the World Telecommunication Development Conference at Doha in 2006, aiming to

1. promote regulatory cooperation at the sub-regional and regional levels
2. assist members to develop various policy and regulatory skills and frameworks on common current telecommunication/ICT issues
3. establish and implement mechanisms for sharing and exchanging information, experiences and best practices

Singapore is one of ITU’s Member States in the Asia-Pacific region to heed the call for collaboration through this proposed joint Singapore-ITU training programme in ICT policy and regulation.

For more information, please contact:

• For ITU

  Dr Kim Eun-Ju
  ITU Regional Office (Bangkok)
  Tel.: +662 574 8565/85 72/93 26
  Fax: +662 574 93 28
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• For IDA

  HO Ka Wei (Mr)
  Manager, Corporate and Marketing Communication
  Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
  Tel:+65 6211 0273
  Fax: +65 6211 2227
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• About ITU

• About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA)

  The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing infocommunications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies. For more news and information click here.

• About Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre

  The e-Government Leadership Centre was set up in June 2006 as a partnership of three key institutions in Singapore: IDA, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and the Institute of Systems Science. It is an educational centre set up to provide executive development programmes to train leaders responsible for driving e-Government initiatives in their respective countries. www.egl.sg

Quelle/Source: ITU, 10.11.2006