The Hindu Business Line : SAARC meet to adopt telecom action plan

THE South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries plan to adopt a new plan of action on telecommunications, which will include complete digitalisation of inter-country links, establishing an intra-regional high bandwidth hub, promoting research and development activities and exchange of expertise in telecommunication disciplines.

The action plan, to be adopted at the second meeting of SAARC Communications Ministers, to be held from June 29 to 30, in Islamabad will also ensure universal access development of rural services and affordable tariffs of telecommunication services.

The Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, will lead a high-level delegation from India. This will be the first foreign visit for Mr Maran after he took over as the Communications Minister.

The Chairman of the Telecom Commission, Mr Mr Nripendra Misra, will accompany the minister along with other senior officials of the Department of Telecommunications.

During the two-day meeting, Mr Maran will discuss various issues concerning the SAARC region, including the issue of bridging the digital divide in South Asian countries and suggest short and long-term action plans, an official statement said.

Development of performance indicators on telecommunication sector in member countries and identification of human resource development programmes for strengthening communication sector in the region will also be discussed.

Other SAARC communication ministers are also likely to deliberate upon evolving a common position on issues of concern to the region in telecommunication sector at the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS) to be held at Tunis in November 2005.

Other issues, such as cooperation with international agencies in the field of telecommunications and initiatives for high-level dialogue between SAARC and Asia Pacific Telecommunity, will also be taken up for discussion by the ministerial conference.

The meeting will conclude with the adoption of the new plan of action.

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