KUALA LUMPUR:The inaugural ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN1) and related meetings concluded today with the grouping successfully launching the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025) under the chairmanship of Malaysia, which would chart the region’s digital landscape for the next five years.

Malaysia, as the host of the ADGMIN1, was given the honour of coordinating the development of the ADM 2025 for ASEAN. The ADM2025 is an aspirational five-year Masterplan which aims to facilitate regional cooperation in the development of the digital sector within ASEAN.

ADGMIN1 came at a very challenging and critical time as the digital ecosystem is playing more prominence to people’s lives and businesses across ASEAN especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ADM 2025 is expected to propel the digital economy growth for the region which has a population of over 600 million people.

The region's digital economy is worth US$100 billion last year, and is expected to amount to more than US$300 billion by 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report.

The ADM2025 launched today listed eight desired outcomes, including actions of the ADM2025 prioritised to speed up ASEAN recovery from COVID-19, increase in the quality and coverage of fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure, the delivery of trusted digital services and prevention of consumer harm, and a sustainable competitive market for the supply of digital services.

The ADM2025 also aimed for increase in the quality and use of e-government services, digital services to connect businesses and facilitate cross-border trade, increased capacity of businesses and people to participate in the digital economy, as well as a digitally inclusive society in ASEAN.

At the end of the meeting, ADGMIN1 also adopted the Putrajaya Declaration on “ASEAN – a Digitally Connected Community” to build a digitally-ready and connected ASEAN to help businesses and citizens benefit from opportunities presented by the digital economy.

The two-day ministers’ meeting, chaired by Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah in a virtual environment, saw the ASEAN member states having fruitful discussions on several pertinent issues including cyber security, ICT cooperation and post COVID-19 recovery.

In his welcoming speech yesterday, the Minister affirms Malaysia’s support in implementing the initiatives under ASEAN’s Digital Data Governance Framework in ensuring secure cross-border data flows and enhancing cybersecurity in creating a trusted ecosystem for e-commerce within ASEAN.

Malaysia, he added, is also committed to promoting the development of professional cybersecurity certification programmes for ASEAN in helping to create world-class cybersecurity personnel.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in a keynote speech yesterday, said ASEAN countries could consider setting up a fund as a means of improving digital and Internet infrastructure among member states.

He also said that member countries could come up with an online platform to connect small and medium businesses and artisans across the region, selling original goods directly to consumers, thus, easing transactions.

Another pertinent point raised by the Prime Minister is that ASEAN has to find ways to collectively mitigate cross-border cybercrime as it prepares to emerge as a competitive digital economic bloc in the post-COVID-19 period.

He said that the main challenge facing the regional grouping in the cybersphere is staying ahead in two principal areas - mitigating cybercrime and advancing the digital economy.

Meanwhile, the ADGMIN1, also participated by ASEAN Dialogue Partners -- China, Japan, South Korea, India and the United States -- as well as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), gave opportunities for them to held consultations and look into how they could further cooperate.

In a joint statement, the Ministers said they looked forward to further deepening the cooperation with Dialogue and Development Partners in enhancing digital cooperation, developing human resources, exploring emerging technologies for adoption, and improving the capacity to address cybersecurity risks in the implementation of ADM2025.

They also reiterated ASEAN’s commitment to pursue policy and regulatory dialogue with both dialogue and development partners and called for greater participation from the private sector to jointly develop quality ICT infrastructure and services.

According to The World Economic Forum, with 125,000 new users coming onto the Internet every day, the ASEAN digital economy is projected to grow significantly, adding an estimated US$1 trillion to regional GDP over the next ten years.

All 10-ASEAN member states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - participated in the ADGMIN1 and related meetings convened virtually from Monday.

ADGMIN1 was previously known as the ASEAN Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting (ASEAN TELMIN).

Themed "ASEAN: A Digitally Connected Community", ADGMIN1 seeks to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN countries towards building digital ecosystems as a pillar in the post-COVID-19 development plan.

The 2nd ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting and its Meetings with Dialogue Partners and ITU will be held in Myanmar at the end of 2021.

-- BERNAMA