Manila Y2K summit asks for WB, ADB aid
Manila Y2K summit asks for WB, ADB aid
MANILA (Reuters): Eighteen Asia-Pacific nations and economies on Wednesday appealed for funding from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions to rid the region of the millennium bug.
They made the appeal in a 16-point Manila declaration summing up the action they had agreed on during the three-day second global Y2K summit in the Philippine capital.
The millennium bug, called Y2K, is a programming flaw in computers that may cause them to crash on Jan. 1, 2000, causing widespread confusion and chaos.
"It is agreed that the nations and economies of the Asian region...call upon the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other organizations and countries to review and increase their level of support for national and regional Y2K efforts," said the declaration issued at the end of the meeting.
Most of the costs of the Y2K compliance efforts in the region have been borne so far by the private sector, Bruce McConnel, chairman of the Washington-based International Year 2000 Cooperation Center, told reporters.
He said the funding being made available through multilateral development banks in terms of grants and loans was very modest from the standpoint of making a major impact on the funding situation.
McConnel said there was still no estimate of the total Y2K costs for the region.
Amable Aguiluz, chairman of the Philippine Commission on Year 2000 compliance, said Asian economies could use available World Bank lending windows for developing countries, which include a grant of US$500,000 from the United Kingdom and the United States.
"At the same time, the World Bank has funding that is available for developing Asian countries. The Philippines has given its interest to borrow...securities grant from the World Bank for its Y2K effort," Aguiluz told reporters.
"Malaysia, for instance, has already applied for a $100 million grant from the World Bank and it's now being considered," he said.
The declaration said the Y2K bug was not a mere technical problem arising from a computer glitch "but a societal management problem".
"If not addressed, (it) will adversely affect the delivery of essential services in critical sectors of society, including power, telecommunications, finance, transport, and health," the statement said.
Delegates agreed that because of the interconnected nature of systems, regional cooperation and the participation of international sector organizations was essential to assure the continued functioning of critical sectors in the new millennium.
They also vowed to increase information sharing across borders on Y2K readiness, practices, lessons, systems as well as failures.
The declaration was signed by Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Palau, Philippines, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. Hong Kong attended as an observer.