An NCC delegation, led by Commissioner Chorng-Jian Liu, represented the Chinese-Taipei at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 9th Telecommunications and Information Ministerial Meeting (TELMIN9), held in St. Petersburg, Russia from August 7-8. The theme of TELMIN9 was TEL’s five major developments: Development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Promote New Growth; Application of ICT to Promote Socio-Economic Activities; Establishment of a Safe and Trustworthy ICT Environment; Promotion of Regional Economic Integration; Strengthen the Cooperation of ICT Sectors. During the event, the Chinese-Taipei delegation exchanged views with numerous economies, including the US, Singapore, Thailand, and Russia, with view to providing experiences that promote the development of information and communication security in the Asia-Pacific region and create joint economic prosperity.
　　The ministers of economy from throughout the Asia-Pacific region were invited to give briefings, allowing economies to understand each other’s development with respect to telecommunications. Commissioner Liu gave a presentation entitled Information and Communication Policy and Initiatives in Chinese Taipei during the session Development of ICT to Promote New Growth. During his talk, Commissioner Liu described the vision of Taiwan’s Information and Communication and how it is achieving digital convergence through universal service and the digital switchover. He also explained how Taiwan launched the digital convergence policy project in 2010 with aim to high quality living through digital convergence, truly establish the industry convergence, and enhance competitiveness of the Next Generation Network by setting up targets and strategies. In order to meet the demands for future digital convergence development, NCC plans to facilitate a sound environment for telecommunications, broadcasting, and the Internet through universal services and the digital switchover.
　　TELMIN9 was also noteworthy for the passing of the “Declaration of St. Petersburg,” whose theme was “establishing the confidence and security of using ICT and promoting economic growth and prosperity.” Taiwan was actively involved in the drafting of the declaration and provided relevant comments, including encouraging the promotion of IPv6 conversion, reducing international mobile roaming tariffs, and the promotion of MRA, etc., being adopted into the declaration. The Declaration of St. Petersburg determines the future course of action of APEC’s Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TEL) in the ICT field. At the same time, clear instructions are given for TEL’s future direction as a basis for each economy to follow in the future.
　The Taiwan delegation used the opportunity of attending TELMIN9 to arrange bilateral talks with the US to exchange views on issues, such as national broadband plan, internet security, and cloud computing. Commissioner Liu also exchanged views with each minister of economy during the meeting and shared Taiwan’s development experience in information and communications to enhance the international presence of Taiwan. Thus, Taiwan successfully completed its mission at TELMIN9. NCC and related authorities will continue to strengthen ICT supervision, enhance industrial development, implement the Declaration of St. Petersburg, and continue efforts to promote international exchanges and cooperation in order to boost the development of Taiwan’s ICT and services, and raise Taiwan’s presence internationally.