Regional Progress And Strategies Towards Building The Information Society In Asia And The Pacific

This publication is a further step in the direction envisaged in the Regional Roadmap towards an Information Society. It addresses the key issues relating to the application of information and communication technologies and outlines how the global and regional initiatives could promote and catalyze actions at the regional and national levels. It outlines a comprehensive plan and strategic framework for collaborative ICT programmes and projects at the regional level for realizing the vision of an inclusive and sustainable information society in Asia and the Pacific. Publishing Agency: United Nations (UN).

The Asia-Pacific region is one of many contrasts, containing more than 60 per cent of the world's population and about 75 per cent of the world's poor; with some of the world's richest and poorest nations, including state-controlled, mixed and liberalised economies, and including large continent-sized nations, city states, tiny atolls and islands. It is also the most dynamic and fastest growing region of the world, and is expected to account for more than half of the world trade in this century. This publication contains the report of the expert group meeting, held in Bangkok in August 2003, to discuss the development of national information and communications technology (ICT) strategies in the region, in order to narrow the digital divide and create an equitable information society in the region.

This book provides an extensive overview of the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries between 2000 and 2012. It covers issues such as country-specific ICT diffusion patterns, technological substitution and technological convergence. By identifying social, economic and institutional prerequisites and analyzing critical country-specific conditions, the author develops a new approach to explaining the emergence of their technological takeoff. Readers will discover how developing countries are now adopting ICTs, rapidly catching up with the developed world in terms of ICT access and use.

ICT and Internet economy development has been one of the main interests of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation from the early stage of APEC and the Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TEL or TELWG) was established in 1990 to promote building the Asia-Pacific Information Society (APIS). The objective of this study is to highlight and analyze the economic benefits ICT development or the Internet economy will offer as a new source of economic growth, promoting innovative development in the Asia-Pacific region. This study begins by briefing the activities of APEC and the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group and then overviews the current state of ICT development in the APEC member economies based on the ICT Development Index (IDI) published by ITU, analyzes the potential benefits of further ICT development in terms of economic growth, or in some sense, productivity growth, and finally presents implications and suggestions for ICT development or the Internet economy to facilitate economic growth of the Asia-Pacific region. Some of the findings and implications of this study are as follows. Despite the huge gaps among the APEC member economies, ICT as a whole has been developed significantly in the APEC region and the gaps have also been reduced in general during 2002-2012. The progress seems to be converging rather than diverging among the APEC member economies. However, there are still huge and enlarged gaps between these economies when it comes to ICT utilization. APEC therefore needs to make efforts to bridge the ICT development gaps existing among its member economies, especially regarding ICT utilization, in addition to continued efforts to further close the gaps in ICT infrastructure, which is regarded as a great achievement of the previous decade. ICT development is expected to bring about significant progress in the economic growth of each of the APEC member economies as well as APEC as a whole. APEC can share the experience of member economies with extraordinary progress in ICT development between 2002 and 2012, such as Viet Nam, Russia, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Peru, Malaysia, etc. APEC needs to identify and share their success factors and policy experiences. Executive Summary I. Introduction II. ICT Development and Cooperation in APEC 1. APEC Activities and ICT Cooperation 2. APEC TEL Focus and Targets III. IDI and ICT Development in APEC 1. ICT Development Index (IDI) 2. ICT Development in APEC IV. ICT Development and Economic Growth 1. Reference Studies and Motivation 2. Production Function Approach 3. Endogenous Growth Model Approach 4. ICT Development and Economic Growth in APEC V. Implications for APEC Cooperation References Appendix

The region's oldest and most comprehensive annual review of economic and social developments forecasts the external environment in Asia-Pacific to be less favourable in 2007, but sees continued dynamism despite risks of further oil price shocks, and a sharp depreciation of the US dollar. The Survey warns that interventions by monetary authorities to keep currencies down are leading to inflated asset values, especially in housing and equity markets. Managing exchange rates will be the biggest challenge facing Asia-Pacific economies in 2007.

This book reviews progress with regional cooperation and integration in Asia and the Pacific and explores how it can be reshaped to achieve a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future. Consisting of papers contributed by renowned scholars and Asian Development Bank staff, the book covers four major areas: public goods, trade and investment, financial cooperation, and regional health cooperation. The book emphasizes how the region can better leverage regional integration to realize its vast potential as well as overcome challenges such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.