In addition to being the world's fastest growing IT (information technology) market, the Asia-Pacific region produces most of the world's IT product components. But while many Asian governments have identified IT as vital to their continued economic development, no senior-level regional forum has been convened to explore the information technology issue. Until now.

       During last year's APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Leaders' Meeting in the Philippines, the attending government leaders issued a declaration calling for the elimination of IT tariff barriers - a move that facilitated the subsequent decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to propose a global Information Technology Agreement (ITA). The success of the APEC economies in evolving and regulating their high-tech commerce will have a profound effect on businesses worldwide, and the proposed ITA underscores the critical role that IT products and services will play in the developing Asia-Pacific economies.

       PECC (Pacific Economic Cooperation Council) - the only private observer body in APEC - has in recent years been very active in channeling business advice to APEC working groups. A central activity of PECC is to develop a body of independent information and perspectives for APEC.

       The premise of PECC is that trade and investment policies in the Asia-Pacific are vital to improving global growth and trade performance, and cannot be established in isolation from the rest of the world economy. PECC has been promoting new cooperative measures within the region, and seeks to provide a multinational framework within which countries can address issues that otherwise might become mired in acrimonious or unproductive bilateral disputes.

       To that end, and in conjunction with the 5th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in November 1997, PECC will host the 1st Asia-Pacific Information Technology Summit in San Francisco on November 19 - 21. Billed as "A Dialog of APEC Leaders, Ministers, and CEOs," this summit will (1) serve as a catalyst to advance the building of an ITA infrastructure, (2) offer a high-level forum where government and business leaders can discuss the future of IT, and (3) provide a platform for developing countries to present their IT solutions to companies from around the world.

       This Asia-Pacific IT Summit will provide participants with opportunities to synergize with business and government leaders on issues of product identification, financing, and marketing. Who should attend? High-level executives of IT companies that have a global or regional presence, and who would like to have input into the region's IT agenda, and entrepreneurs who simply want to interact with regional leaders and explore Asian business opportunities.

       Chairman of the summit will be Andy Grove, CEO of Intel. Confirmed participants include Microsoft's Bill Gates and Acer's Stan Shih, as well as several high-ranking government leaders. Computing Japan will be there, too, covering the event; we're proud to have been asked to be a "media cooperator" for the summit.

       We'll take a further look at Asian IT and the upcoming Asia-Pacific Information Technology Summit in our October and November issues. In the meantime, for more information contact pecctech@worldnet.att.net, or check out the PECC homepage at http://www.pecc.net/.

WM. Auckerman