SZ to lift IT cooperation with ASEAN

MINISTERS in charge of telecommunication and post from 10 ASEAN countries visited Shenzhen on Tuesday, their last leg in China for the China-ASEAN ICT (information and communication technologies) Week from May 12 to 18.

The Shenzhen government and local telecom enterprises hoped to lift ICT cooperation between the city and ASEAN countries. Vice Mayor Xu Zongheng extended invitation letters to the ministers, asking them to participate in this year s China Hi-Tech Fair to be held in the city in October.
The weeklong workshop, proposed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last year, is aimed at promoting cooperative partnership for common development between China and ASEAN countries in the ICT field.

The delegation, consisting of telecommunication ministers from ASEAN countries and representatives of leading telecom industries, visited Beijing and Shanghai before coming to Shenzhen.

A China-ASEAN ICT Web site (www.caict.org.cn) was officially initiated.

The delegation visited ZTE on Tuesday and will visit Huawei on Wednesday.

The two local telecom giants have become mainstream equipment suppliers in many ASEAN countries, helping to break down Western equipment companies monopoly in ASEAN countries. ZTE is also participating in the project of training 500 IT professionals for ASEAN countries.
The principal adviser with the Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Chirapa Chitraswang, said she saw so many skyscrapers, rapid urban development and excellent telecom operators in the city and understood these were the reasons Shenzhen was put on the itinerary.

Jorge V. Sarmiento, deputy commissioner of the Philippines National Telecom Commission, said the communication products made in Shenzhen were very competitive in its country.

Harijadi P. Budimartono, director of Inti Pistma International of Indonesia, said ZTE s CDMA base was performing excellently in his country