Terms of Reference of
e-ASEAN Business Council

Background

1. At the Special Telecommunications and Information Technology Senior Officials Meeting (TELSOM) held on 4-5 June 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand, TELSOM agreed to recommend that ASEAN Telecommunications and IT Ministers (TELMIN) engage with the private sector through an e-ASEAN Business Council (e-ABC). This Council will serve to provide private sector feedback on policy and regulatory issues as far as new and emerging technologies are concerned and allow for engagement with external industry experts from centres of excellence, research institutions, think tanks and academia.

2. TELMIN provided the ad-reference approval of the institutional mechanisms recommended by TELSOM and at the 3rd TELMIN Meeting held in 2003 in Singapore, TELMIN endorsed the Singapore Action Agenda which reaffirmed the call for the e-ABC to be established by 2004.

Objective

3. The objective of the e-ABC is to provide advice and feedback to ASEAN Telecommunications and IT Ministers (TELMIN) on ICT industry development, policy and regulatory issues in the region including:

• Application of ICT technology to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of key economic sectors, as well as to narrow the digital divide;
• Adoption of industry and technology standards;
• Policy and regulatory impediments and other environmental constraints to the development of the ICT industry;
• Cross border issues impacting the flow of ICT products, services and investments

Activities

4. Activities of the e-ABC shall be to:

• Organise discussion forums, roundtables and events for industry networking and sharing of ideas
• Establish linkages with relevant global and regional business forums
  

Composition and Features

5. The e-ABC shall comprise CEO-level representatives from the private sector from each Member Country and be nominated by the Member Country concerned. Each Member Country would be represented by a maximum of 3 members, preferably 1 member from ICT industry association / federation, and the other 2 members from ICT companies or relevant organisations.

6. The term of office for each member is 2 years.

7. The Chairmanship of the Council shall follow Chairmanship mechanism of TELSOM/TELMIN.

8. Secretariat support shall be provided by members

9. The e-ABC is expected to be self-funded in the organization and conduct of its meeting.

10. Expenditure related to travel accommodation and daily allowances of members of the Council shall be borne by the respective members.

Frequency of Meetings

11. The frequency of meetings shall be determined by e-ABC.

Reporting Mechanism

12. The e-ABC shall submit its recommendation to the TELMIN annually.

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