Ministers from 47 countries including 30 OECD member and 17 non-member countries will be gathering at COEX in Seoul, Korea to discuss the topic of the Future of the Internet Economy. Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, said, "The internet today is increasingly critical to the way our economy and the societies are developing. Ministers from many OECD and many non-member countries together with business and civil society will define a collective vision of a desirable future economy and society supported by the internet." In 1998 in Ottawa, Canada, the OECD organized a ministerial meeting in Canada on e- Commerce. The conference established policies in areas such as privacy, security, taxation, or consumer policy that have been instrumental in nurturing online activity.
Nearly ten years has passed and 10 years in IT history is an age. Information technology is becoming part of people's lives now. The internet has become a powerful driver of innovation, economic growth, and social welfare, and guiding principles for the internet economy over the next decade need to be set. The Korea IT Times interviewed the director of the Preparation and Planning for the OECD Ministerial Meeting, Lee Jae-bum to learn about the meeting and its progress:
The OECD ministerial meeting will be convened by OECD and hosted by Korea, and will take the place from the 17th to 18th of June 2008 in Seoul. The objective of the ministerial meeting is to shape policies for creativity, confidence, and convergence in the digital world. On the 16th of June 2008, the day before the ministerial meeting, non-governmental stakeholders including businesses, internet technical communities, civil societies, and organized labor will gather to share their perspectives for the future development of the internet economy. Messages from the forum will be conveyed to the ministerial meeting.
Ministers from OCED members and many nonimember countries in the areas of communications, economics, industries of trade, and leaders and visionaries from private sectors will try to shape policies for creativity, confidence, and convergence in the Digital World. The ministerial meeting has five roundtables for addressing the themes of improving economic performance of social welfare, in order to realize the internet's evolving role as a compelling force for economic growth and social welfare. The meeting will first focus on promoting creativity in order to strengthen the internet as a catalyst for economic growth and social innovation.
The next thing the meeting is trying to accomplish is building confidence. This will involve the discussion for resolutions to reduce the internet's vulnerability to fraud and malicious threats, which is the key to empower internet users and the internet economy. Also, the subject on benefiting from convergence will be discussed. Convergence is essential for extending the network to new devices and centre technologies. The question centers on how to adapt to a new environment of a converged platform of voice, video, and data. Lastly, the subject of a global internet economy will be adjusted in target of extending internet to the billions of users and further the benefit internet economy.
Various side events to the ministerial meeting will take place from the 17th to 20th of June at COEX. The World IT Show will give an excellent opportunity to showcase upcoming innovations and enable participants to experience the future of the internet economy. Related forums and seminars regarding to the theme of the ministerial meeting will be held as well. "The OECD Ministerial meeting is a great opportunity to learn to be better international hosts" Director Lee Jae-bum of Preparation and Planning for the OECD Ministerial Meeting said.
Participants and visitors may experience Robust Broadband Internet Infrastructure and various innovative IT services including wireless broadband services like WiBro and Digital Multi Broadcasting (DMB) service in their hands.
A National Contact Point will be announced at the homepage at www.oecdministerialseoul2008.org. The website is allowing users to register online to participate in the meeting and directly book hotel accommodations. Here the various price range hotels near by COEX will be recommended in consideration of the participants' safety, convenience, and comfort.
The e mail address for meeting registrations is oecd2008reg@intercom. co.kr and for hotel reservations is oecd2008hotel@intercom.co.kr.
