KATHMANDU, Jan. 13: Minister for Information and Communications and General Administration Ramesh Nath Pandey has said the e-revolution is taking shape at different places in Asia and the Pacific Region, but there exists, to a large extent, a digital divide between countries and within countries.

Minister Pandey, who was chairing a round table debate jointly organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on “National and Regional E-Development: New Solutions, New Markets” in Tokyo this afternoon, said while developed countries have access to the latest technologies, developing countries are finding it hard to deploy this on large scale.

Minister Pandey said that His Majesty’s Government has taken E-development very seriously with the required policy reforms and is also encouraging private sector participation, according to a press release from the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Tokyo.

But in view of the landlocked nature of Nepal and difficult geographical terrain, he said it is an extended effort for the government to bridge the division between city and village.

Participating in the debate, Pamela Kruzic, Principal Director of Office of Information Systems and Technology at the Asian Development Bank told the meeting about the recent effort in Nepal with regard to good governance and enabling environment in the financial sector.

As chairman of the session, Minister Pandey will present the conclusion of the round table debate to the plenary session of the conference on 15 January.

Earlier, a three days Asian Regional Conference on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) began this morning in Tokyo, Japan.

The opening session of the conference elected Toranosuke Katayama, Minister for Public Management, Home Affairs, and Post and Telecommunication of the Government of Japan as the chairman of the regional conference.

This conference is being participated by government delegations from 37 countries of the Asia Pacific, 26 international organisations. And other private sector entities and civil society bodies.
The conference aims to establish a common vision of the information society with issues of high relevance to the Asia Pacific Region.

This is the first Asia Pacific Regional Conference leading up to the second preparatory meeting to be held in Geneva in February, 2003.

Minister of Information and Communication and General Administration Ramesh Nath Pandey is leading the Nepali delegation to this regional conference at the invitation of the Japanese government.
The other members of the delegation are Mukunda Prasad Acharya, joint secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications and Mohan Krishna Shrestha, minister-counsellor and deputy chief of mission at the Royal Nepali Embassy in Tokyo.

Minister Pandey also chaired the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), session on “National and Regional E-Development new solutions, new markets” this afternoon, in Tokyo today.

The Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) is represented by Mr. Gaurab Raj Upadhayaya, secretary of the Association at the conference.

The first preparatory committee meeting of the WSIS was held in Geneva in July, 2002.

The World Summit on Information Society will be held in December, 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia.