ASEAN DIGITAL MINISTERS MEETING

Recently, the 2nd ASEAN Digital Ministers’ (ADGMIN) Meeting with India virtually, where two sides finalized India-ASEAN Digital work plan 2022 for future collaboration in the field.

Important points:

• ADGMIN is an annual meeting of telecom ministers of 10 ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) countries and dialogue partner countries—Australia, Canada, China, EU, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, UK and US.
• ASEAN nations include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• India and ASEAN nations have jointly approved a work plan under which they will develop a system to combat use of stolen and counterfeit mobile handsets.
• Other areas of cooperation include wifi access network interface for nationwide public internet.
• Emphasis will also be given on the capacity building and knowledge sharing in emerging areas in the field of information and communication technologies advanced satellite communication, cyber forensics.

Significance of the ICT:

• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) enables and strengthens democratic systems and institutions through enhanced engagement between citizens and the state.
• Technology has emerged as a powerful tool to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which is not just a challenge for the public health system but is also adversely impacting the economy and social order of the countries.
• Related Steps taken by India:
• The telecom ministry in December 2019 had launched a portal to help people in Delhi-NCR block and trace their stolen or lost mobile phones.
• The project is backed by the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system, which was undertaken by the telecom department for addressing security, theft and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile handsets.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT