Three countries to meet on telecommunications issues

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Senior officials of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand will meet here for two days next week to discuss cooperation in the telecommunication sector.

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djamhari Sirat is expected to open the IMT-GT (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand -- Growth Triangle) forum meeting on Monday.

The IMT-GT forum was established in early 1993 to help boost economic development and business cooperation in several areas of the three nations. The economic-growth zone covers Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, and Lampung in Indonesia; Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and Perlis in Malaysia; and Narathiwat, Pattani, Satun, Songkhla and Yala in Thailand.

The meeting in Indonesia is the third to be organized by the forum on telecommunications industry. The first meeting of the forum was held in Malaysia in 2002, followed with the second one in Thailand last year.

The Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications said in a statement that the meeting will start with presentations by the three countries on their newest policies and regulations in the telecommunications sector.

Later on, representatives of the three countries are expected to discuss several project proposals which the three nations may jointly execute.

The Indonesian delegation will present several project proposals, including the Connected IMT-GT project from PT Sigma, the Local Government Based on IP-Broadband Wireless from the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), and the Rural Telephony project from PT Quasar.