The Special ASEAN Telecommunications Senior Officials Meeting was opened in Hanoi on September 5 to review information technology and communication cooperation in the region.

Co-organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the ASEAN Secretariat, the event, which will run until September 7, will discuss proposals and issues in the field as well as the progress of cooperation projects, and suggest new projects.

Along with the cooperation among the ASEAN member countries, participating officials will focus on cooperation projects between the association and its dialogue partners, including India, Japan and the EU.

Besides, they will also make preparations for the ASEAN Telecommunication and IT Ministers’ Meeting to be held in the Philippines in November.

Addressing the opening session, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang said despite significant achievements, ASEAN’s information and communication sector still faces serious challenges as many people in rural areas have got limited access to information technology services.

There remained a lot of things to do for ASEAN member countries to catch up with the global development speed. Therefore, in order to form an ASEAN information and communication technology community, the association is striving to realise its overall programme to 2015, said Thang.

Source: VNA