PM calls for common Asean direction to reinforce cyber-security
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday called on everyone to focus on how to make constructive use of information and communications technology and create commercial benefits rather than conflicts.
He also urged Asean to set a common direction to reinforce cyber-security and ensure that the Asean Community would be peaceful and stable.
He was presiding over the 14th Asean Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting, hosted by the ICT Ministry.
It also hosts the 15th Asean Telecommunications and IT Senior Officials Meeting and events from January 19-23 under the theme "Transforming Asean: Moving towards smart communities".
Prayut said Thailand has 98 million mobile phone numbers in use and that will reach 100 million soon. The country has 26 million Internet subscribers and 33 million Line user accounts. Internet traffic via smartphones has also risen.
Although most of the Internet use on smartphones has yet to support business, everyone has to help think how to encourage ICT use to benefit business. Thailand is developing digital economy policies to support this, he said.
The objectives of the meetings and events are to promote and support coordination in and development of information and communications technology in Asean and to foster the growth of the Asean Community.
The Asean ministers’ meeting is scheduled to be held annually to serve as a platform for promoting and developing cooperation in telecommunications and information technology among the 10 Asean member states and between Asean and dialogue partners and the International Telecommunication Union.
It covers high-level discussions ranging from IT infrastructure development to bridging the digital divide.
One of the highest priorities to be addressed during this year’s meetings is the establishment the second edition of the Asean ICT master plan after the first edition ends this year.
ICT Minister Pornchai Ruchiprapa said the development of ICT in Asean is reflected in a range of indicators such as the Networked Readiness Index 2014 by the World Economic Forum. The Asean average stands at 4.01, indicating that the ability of the general public as well as the private and public sectors to access ICT is better than that of many countries in other regions around the world.
