Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Assalamu' Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Good Morning, Selamat Hari Raya and A Very Happy New Year

Distinguished members of the BIT Council,
Ladies and Gentlemen

      Let me first welcome you all to the First Meeting of the Brunei Darussalam Information Technology (BIT) Council. Let me also congratulate you on your appointment to this Council. This Council is formed to advise His Majesty's Government in matters pertaining to IT; to assist Brunei to achieve the vision, mission and goal of the National IT strategy plan for the year 2000 and beyond; to advise, formulate and implement activities with regard to development and usage of IT. In short our function is to assist His Majesty's Government to focus on wider usage of IT as a tool to move Brunei's development in the 21st Century. The Council is comprised of Senior Officers, Permanent Secretaries, High Level representatives from the private sector, the academia and representatives of technology sector.

      Over the last couple of years, we have witnessed the global and regional dot.com gold rush, the roller coaster ride of technology stocks, the creation of sometimes within months, of multi-millionaires in unprecedented numbers, and the convergence of the communications, computing, and other technologies industries heralded the arrival of the digital Economy; an era promising excitement and development. For Brunei, this is a big challenge - we have much to do to ensure that our country remains relevant and economically competitive, in this new era of technology. We cannot simply sit still and watch other countries move forward.

      This is where the BIT Council will play a major role laying out plans to develop Brunei Darussalam into a dynamic and vibrant Info communication and technology-based Nation. We have the vision to make Brunei as one of the Cyber Hubs in the region. We have been moving in this direction in the last couple of months. One of the early initiatives to realize this vision was the liberalization of the Internet Services which we hope will eventually create wider consumers' choice and move us nearer to our goal of creating Brunei as a Cyber Hub.

      I do not want to make too long  Statement but allow me to outline the rationale behind the establishment of the BIT Council. E-Government will be of the major element which we will have to tackle. Governments all over the world have a major role to play in the social and economic development. We all know that His Majesty's Government has embarked on a computerization programme as early as 1980s. By early 1990s we had gone online . Now we have to go one step further. We have to move forward to transform ourselves into an e-Government, one which members of the public and businesses can reach, communicate and interact with each other virtually. The power of 3Gs will enable individuals and businesses to obtain government information and utilize government services. The world is now marching to Internet Speed and we must ensure that our public servants must be able to work at a similar speed or be left behind.

      The other area which we have to focus our attention is e-Commerce. As you know, the Government has set up a National Task Force on e-Commerce co-chaired by the Permanent Secretaries of Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources. The Task Force is focusing on the fundamental components of e-commerce, namely the Infrastructure, the Legal, the HRD and Adoption & Promotion of e-business in the country. The work of the Task Force will indeed become a major input to the BIT Council. At the same time the Council will give policy guidance and directions where necessary.

      E-Education is one priority area that I feel needs serious attention of the Council. In this respect, we have to be ambitious and forward looking where we expect to equip our teachers and students with the necessary skills and infrastructure to integrate information technology into the school curriculum and the learning environment. Why I feel this needs to be seriously addressed is simply because it is all about equipping our children, Brunei's future generation, with the necessary skills, tools, systems and infrastructure for the digital NEW ECONOMY.

      This is our first meeting and I hope as from now on we can have regular meetings. Let me tell you also about our working structure. The Council is assisted by a Secretariat and is headed by Awang Haji Mahmud bin Haji Mohd Daud, the Acting Director of Information Technology and State Stores. The main Secretariat is in Jabatan Teknologi Maklumat dan Stor Negara and I have set up a small branch Secretariat here at the Ministry of Communications in the Ground Floor. I propose to have two Assistant Secretaries, one from the Jabatan Teknologi Maklumat dan Stor Negara, and the one from the Ministry of Communications, who is Awang Ang Kian Guan.

      Let me close my Opening Remarks by inviting your comments and views on one important item. I have obtained approval to form an International Advisory Panel comprising experts from outside Brunei. My idea is to invite as many as 15 from outside ASEAN to sit in this Panel. I have spoken to a few people in the IT World and so far they welcome the idea and have indicated their willingness to serve in this Panel. The function of this Panel is to advise us, the Council, on what we should do, what we should be looking for and tell us what is coming.

      I am asking the members, if you have any thoughts on this or any suggestion regarding membership, frequency of meeting of this Panel and indeed the future and the Terms of Reference of this Panel.

Thank you.