William Hioe, Senior Director, Strategic Planning/International, IDA Singapore - Introductory Remarks Singapore-Philippines MOU Signing Ceremony
William Hioe, Senior Director, Strategic Planning/International, IDA Singapore - Introductory Remarks
Singapore-Philippines MOU Signing Ceremony
Singapore, 25 August 2001
Thank you for attending this press briefing on the visit of Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines, to the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). My brief introductory remarks will cover the outcome of President Arroyo's visit to IDA, the status of Info-communications Technology (ICT) cooperation between Singapore and the Philippines, and the significance of the signing of the three Memoranda of Understanding that you witnessed just a while ago.
President Arroyo's visit to IDA this morning was a fruitful one. The bilateral consultations between the Philippines delegation and IDA provided a good opportunity for a productive discussion on the status of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, as well as future areas of cooperation. Both sides have also agreed to work together to advance the implementation of the e-ASEAN initiative. In fact, over the past two years, the Chair of the e-ASEAN Task Force, H.E. Roberto Romulo of the Philippines, and the Chair of the e-ASEAN Working Group, Mr Leong Keng Thai of IDA Singapore, have worked closely together to initiate public and private sector efforts to realise the vision of e-ASEAN.
Today's MOU signings marked a concrete step towards forging stronger partnerships between our governments, industries and academia.
i. The MOU on Technology Collaboration Programme is an industry-to-industry effort involving Sun Microsystems, Nanyang Technological University (ASP Centre), University of the Philippines and Mapua Institute of Technology/iPeople, Inc. The MOU is to develop Java competency in the Philippines. The participating parties will set up a Java Business Resource Centre to support the uptake of Java technologies by the Philippine IT industry and to nurture local industries to develop innovative Java-based products, applications and services.
ii. The MOI on Certification of IT Professionals between the Singapore Computer Society, National Infocomm Competency Centre (NICC) and the IT Foundation of the Philippines will facilitate the introduction of Singapore's IT Project Manager Certification Programme to the Philippines. With this programme, common benchmarking criteria will be established for IT Project Management Skills, thereby promoting the flow of IT talent between the two countries.
iii. The MOU on Policy and Regulatory Co-operation will enhance policy and regulatory cooperation in ICT between IDA and Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection and the National Telecommunications Commission of the Republic of the Philippines. This would institutionalise regular bilateral dialogues on regulatory issues of interest to both parties, such as competition management, spectrum management and e-commerce policy issues. The MOU would also establish a training programme for Philippines regulators at IDA.
Thank you.
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