Japan to send IT mission to SE Asia

Japan to send IT mission to SE Asia

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): Japan will dispatch a government mission to four Southeast Asian countries this week to discuss their demands for an information technology support plan, that Japan pledged last year to provide with US$15 billion, Japanese government officials said Saturday, Kyodo News reported.

According to Kyodo, the mission will visit Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia from Sunday.

Wataru Nishigahiro, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Economic Cooperation Bureau, will lead the mission. Other members include officials from the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, Kyodo reported.

At the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa last July, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori unveiled a five-year aid package worth $15 billion to help developing countries catch up with new technologies such as computer networking and electronic commerce and to develop human resources.

Nishigahiro said that his team would be followed by a project formation team, comprising technical experts, to draw up concrete assistance plans in each country, Kyodo reported.

"This March or April," he said, "we hope that we will be able to announce the first disbursement. Our estimation is that 20 percent to 30 percent of $15 billion will be provided in official development assistance and the rest will be investments or loans to private sectors by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation."

According to Kyodo, Nishigahiro also said that in their meeting with Singapore officials, they would exchange views on how they can work together to develop IT in other countries, particularly new members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

"Singapore is an advanced IT country...Therefore, I believe that Singapore and Japan will be able to cooperate to overcome the digital divide in this region," he was quoted as saying.

According to another official participating in the mission, Kyodo reported, the Japanese team will meet the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Rizal Ramli and the Malaysian Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Leo Moggie Anak Irok, among others.

This will be the second IT-related assistance mission to Southeast Asia. Last October, Japan sent a similar team to the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia.