REPORT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL WORKING COMMITTEE

 

The Technological Working Committee Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) was held in Lima, Peru, on September 6th, 1998 .

Participants from seven countries attended the meeting. (See Appendix I for the list of participants).

The meeting was held in an atmosphere of complete co-operation and understanding.

1.Opening of the Proceedings

The Technological Committee Meeting was opened by the Hon. Oswaldo Sandoval, Chairman of the Technological Working Committee.

He then extended a warm welcome to the participating Delegations and explained the procedural arrangements of the session.

The participants introduced themselves, starting with Canada, as observer, followed by Thailand, Peru, Japan, Australia, Korea and finally, the United States of America. The Delegations were assisted by their respective advisers.

Upon the request of Chairman Sandoval, Congressman Francisco Pardo Mesones from the Peruvian Delegation acted as Chair of the rest of the Session as Mr. Sandoval proceeded to present the proposal of the APOINT 2001 Plan prepared by Peru.

2. Presentation and debate of the Apoint 2001 Plan.

Congressman Sandoval presented the Apoint 2001 Plan, based on the document previously prepared by the Peruvian APPF Committee, providing a background of the mandate received in this regard during previous APPF Meetings (Annex II).

The acting Chairman requested the participants to give their comments on the proposal.

The Delegations accordingly made comments and suggestions where one and all expressed their heartfelt congratulations on the efforts made by the Peruvian Parliament to forward the objectives of the APPF with regard to the technological advancement of the same (Annex III).

The Korean Delegation was the only Delegation to present their suggestions in a written document (Annex IV).

All the other Delegations gave their opinions during the session and Congressman Sandoval duly responded to each and every comment, while incorporating all the new ideas that were positively accepted by the rest of the attending members.

3. Agreements

• Proceed with the execution of the Apoint 2001 Plan in the way proposed and already being implemented in Peruvian Parliament.
• Follow the suggestion made by the members of the Australian Delegation to have a completely open information network that will be at the easy access of all users.
• To entrust the Thai Delegation with the creation of a legal framework that would define the concept of the essential laws to facilitate the Legislative Exchange System.
• Incorporate the request of the Korean Delegation to develop and provide the Web hosting service in their region and help create the relevant homepages of the parliaments who lack a Website. Likewise, all the attending Delegations were encouraged to follow suit.
• Follow the Australian Delegation´s proposal to create and keep an updated directory of the e-mail addresses of all member countries of the APPF as well as individual parliamentarians.
• Accept the proposal of the Japanese Delegation that each country, in their respective Parliament Websites, should provide a direct link to the APPF Web page.

Attest this 6th of September, 1998 in Lima, Peru

Hon. Oswaldo Sandoval Chairman of the Technological Working Committee

Hon. Francisco Pardo Mesones Acting Chairman