Outcome of the 33rd APEC TEL Meeting

Evolving to meet ever-changing ICT needs,
Restructuring the TEL to three steering groups:
Liberalization, ICT Development, and Security & Prosperity

The 33rd meeting of the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group (APEC TEL) was held from April 23rd to the 28th in Calgary, Canada, presided by Chung In-uk, the TEL Chair and acting president of KISDI.

The South Korean delegation present at the 33rd TEL meeting consisted of experts from government, industry and academia: the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), KISDI, as well as KISTI, KISA, ETRI, and RRL. The delegates promoted Korea's major IT policy issues and held discussions on regulation and development cooperation. In particular, three senior managers of KISDI led the TEL activities and coordinated the delegation's activities. They are: Chung In-uk, acting president of KISDI; APIICC Director Seo Bo-hyun who gave a presentation on the Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure Cooperation Center (APIICC) and the APII Test-bed Project; and research fellow Jang Beom-jin, Deputy Convenor of the Liberalization Steering Group (LSG).

Decisions made at this conference are as follow:
Firstly, discussion of restructuring the TEL which had been proposed at TEL 32 was completed, and the overhaul will begin from the TEL 34 meeting; secondly, representatives of member economies agreed to reorganize four steering groups (Liberalization, Business Facilitation, Development Cooperation, and Human Resources Development) into three groups (Liberalization, ICT Development, and Security & Prosperity), in line with recent ICT development and changing trends; and thirdly, the "Guidelines for New Project Proposals" and the "Guidelines for Workshops" were set and adopted unanimously, in an attempt to organize more efficiently the steering groups of the APEC TEL, as well as to use and manage their funds more effectively.

South Korea's activities were successful at this conference; firstly, the country contributed to the adoption of the Security & Prosperity Steering Group (SPSG) as a new task force; secondly, it presented major issues such as "e-Authentication" and "Security in Convergence Network" which needed to be addressed in the SPSG and received support from other member economies; thirdly, it took up a new post as the Deputy Convenor of the SPSG; and fourthly, presentations were made on the development of new technologies including Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and Trunked Radio Systems (TRS), as well as on the current status of IT policy, in many workshops related to informatization for the disabled, wireless security and broadband.

In addition, APIICC Director Seo Bo-hyun reported the results of the APEC TEL Project--the APIICC and the APII Test-bed Project--in the Development and Cooperation Steering Group (DCSG). And he also explained the status and progress of the APII over the last decade and the recent developments such as the Korea-Japan APII Link upgraded to 10 Gbps and the opening of the Trans-Eurasia Information Network Phase II (TEIN II).

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) proposed the project, so-called "Traffic Measurement for High Precision Applications Awareness over Multigigabit-Speed Internet International Links", and vowed to continue intersessional negotiations to make sure that the project can be adopted as one of APEC fund projects.

The Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) and its Australian counterpart agreed to jointly forge ahead with the "VOIP Security Guideline" project, and proposed the "Cross-border Incident Handling Drill among APEC Economies," and fortunately, the proposal was adopted.

Moreover, member economies shared their views on the definition and future plans of the APEC TEL Telematics strategy which had been discussed since TEL 32, and agreed to hold a workshop on this topic at the next meeting.

Meanwhile, the next meeting was decided to be held from Oct. 22nd to the 28th, in Auckland, New Zealand and there was discussion over a venue for the 7th Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications and Information Industry (TELMIN 7).

The 33rd TEL meeting was a great opportunity for Korea as an IT powerhouse to lay a solid foundation for international cooperation, by actively attending the APEC TEL meeting including discussions over ICT policies and issues and sharing diverse views with other members. Therefore, strengthening its capability in parallel with the status of the Chair of the APEC TEL meeting, South Korea is expected to take the initiative in discussions over dramatically changing ICT markets and regulatory frameworks.