MEDIA RELEASE

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ACS Announces Regional Summit on E-Commerce

Monday, 20 October 1997 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has announced a regional summit on e-commerce in July next year to complement and build on the outcomes of the Federal Government’s Australian e-commerce summit being held in early 1998.

"We are delighted that Senator Alston has taken a strong initiative to address Australia’s role in the on-line economy, but stress the need for the Government to broaden its horizons even further by following the domestic summit with one that involves our Asian trading partners," said ACS President, Tom Worthington, who has been invited to address the United Nations Electronic Commerce Conference in Melbourne later this month.

"Electronic commerce is clearly of great importance to the Australian economy but there is little point is developing our policies in isolation when our success in this competitive sphere will be significantly affected by the actions and policies of other nations around the world."

The ACS pointed to the annual conference of the South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC’98) which is being held in Darwin from 8-10 July, saying it represented the perfect opportunity for Australia and other South East Asian countries to discuss and formulate a policy for on-line commerce throughout the region.

"Such a strategy could see this region set the standards and protocols for electronic commerce for the rest of the world. It would certainly make a difference from having to slavishly follow the whims of North America and Europe," said ACS President-elect and is Chair of the SEARCC’98 Organising Committee, Prins Ralston.

"Not only does SEARCC’98 already have a stream focusing on ‘The On-Line Economy and Trading in Asia’, but key industry and government representatives from over a dozen Asian countries have already committed to take part.

"The timing of Senator Alston’s domestic e-commerce summit could not be better, since it will be staged just a few months earlier, making SEARCC’98 the ideal next step in the formation of Australia’s e-commerce policies," he said.

Chair of the SEARCC’98 stream focusing on the On-line Economy, Geoff Dober, said he would encourage those participating in Senator Alston’s summit to also participate in the regional event and engage our Asian neighbours on these issues.

"SEARCC’98 will bring together experts and strategists from SEARCC’s 15 member nations to discuss issues affection the Asian region. With strong involvement from Australian technologists and policy-makers, this event will add significant value and a regional and world reality to any achievements that come out of the earlier e-commerce summit," he said.

Mr Ralston said he and other ACS officials had asked to meet with Senator Alston next week and intended to raise the possibility of using SEARCC’98 as a regional e-commerce summit at that time.

"The ACS is very keen to assist the Government in any way we can in growing and developing the Australian IT industry. Properly supported and encouraged, we believe IT has the potential to completely address Australia’s trade deficit and establish this country as a major player in the Asian region," he said.

For more information about SEARCC’98, visit the SEARCC Web page.

This media release is located on the Web at: http://www.acs.org.au/news/summit.htm

ENDS

Media Enquiries:

Tom Worthington, ACS President, Tel: (0419) 496 150, Email: tomw@acslink.net.au

Prins Ralston, ACS President-elect, Tel: (0411) 755 069, Email: P_Ralston@ntu.edu.au

Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au