e-Asia 2009 is looked forward to with tremendous interest both locally and internationally. So said Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura in a recent interview on e-Asia 2009 which is scheduled to begin one month from now.
Elaborating on the significance of the event Mr. Dewapura said: “It is quite appropriate that capping as it were the year of English and ICT, officially declared by His Excellency the President on February 13 with the grand final lap, Sri Lanka will get the unique opportunity to host e-Asia 2009.

Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura

The three-day conference cum exhibition from December 2nd to 4th at BMICH Colombo in which ICTA will be the hosting partner will provide the Sri Lankan ICT industry the opportunity for showcasing its potential. The premier ICT event is an open ICT for development (ICT4D) platform for Asian countries to disseminate and discuss the best practices, opportunities, challenges and for promoting growth in Asia”.
Expressing his views on the impact e-Asia 2009 has so far made on the stakeholders, Mr. Dewapura said that he was satisfied with the surge of interest in the premier Asian ICT event. “Interest in e-Asia 2009 has been gathering momentum from inception. For example, the response to the call for papers far exceeded expectations. By the deadline there were more than 400 papers from 24 countries”, Dewapura disclosed.

Referring to the international spread of the candidates for paper presentations ICTA COO said: “The wide spectrum of these 24 countries, such as India, Sri Lanka , Sweden, the Philippines, Japan, Israel, Nepal, Cambodia, China, Bangladesh, Uganda, USA, Malaysia, Albania, Australia, Morocco, France, Switzerland, Argentina, Egypt, United Kingdom and Kenya gives an international hue to e-Asia 2009”.

Summing up the milestones in the run-up to the event the ICTA Chief Operating Officer said: “The first media briefing on July 16, the stakeholder meeting on August 13, the international launch at e-INDIA on August 25 where e-Asia 2009 was officially launched, the second industry briefing on October 2 and the address to the ICTA Private Sector Forum on October 23 were some of the important highlights in the lead-up to e-Asia 2009. With each of these events interest in e-Asia 2009 grew with geometric proportion, so to say”.

Going on to give an idea about what was in store at the event both in terms of contents and numbers of exponents and participants expected at the event Mr. Dewapura said: “The ‘three-day event of conference will include 40 thematic seminal sessions. Global visionaries, innovators, practitioners, policy makers and representatives from donor agencies will grace the event. About 45 countries particularly from Asia but including USA and Europe will be represented at top level. About 100 corporates, more than 1000 international delegates and 800 local visitors are expected to participate in the conference while about 30,000 are expected to visit the exhibition. True to its theme “Opportunities for digital Asia”, e-Asia 2009 will be a great opportunity for interacting particularly with the countries of the region. “Indeed a great memorable experience of a life time is in store for the local and international participants at e-Asia 2009 both at conference and exhibition”.

Queried on any specialities of e-Asia 2009 the COO revealed: “One specialty of e-Asia 2009 is the addition of another thematic sector, namely ‘Emerging Technologies’ and the highest number of papers -120 - are from this category, while e-Government has 75, Digital Learning 115, e-Health 68 and Telecentre Forum 30”.

Moved on to the subject of uniqueness of e-Asia 2009 Mr. Dewapura said: “When speaking about the uniqueness of e-Asia 2009 one cannot forget the e-Asia logo with its culturally significant “Sandakadapahana” - the moonstone given central place. The “Sandakadapahana” (a distinctive element of ancient sculpture of Sri Lanka used in entrances to temples, shrines, palaces and other places of great significance) as the main component of the logo connotes that the current era will move ICT Development towards a new beginning of Sri Lanka. At present all the economic, social and cultural powers are aligned with ICT which is signified by the computer power button centre in the moonstone of the e-Asia 2009 logo.

Asked about the rationale for Sri Lanka being chosen to host the event ICTA COO said: “The decision to grant or not to grant the privilege of hosting e-Asia 2009 was absolutely in the hands of the relevant regional body. However the progressive ICT achievements by Sri Lanka must have played a definite role in the decision to grant this privilege to Sri Lanka being taken even before the end of the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka. Giving a succinct overview of Sri Lanka’s ICT achievement which would have convinced the world that Sri Lanka was a good ICT performer, Mr. Dewapura cited the two World Summit Awards for the best e-Content won by Government Information Centre Project , popularly known as ‘1919’, and the ‘Impaired Aid’ programme both initiated by ICTA. These were adjudged the best in their categories out of 20,000 initial entries from 157 countries.

Adding to the list of great achievements, Sri Lanka’s Networked Readiness Index improved from 72% in 2005 to 53% this year while its IT-BPO status improved from the 29th position in 2008 to the 16th place this year. The island’s ICT literacy reached the 25th per cent mark from 9. 1 per cent in 2004.
Sri Lanka was re-elected to the chair of the ICT Committee of UNESCAP for the second time this year. The country was granted the privilege of hosting e-Asia 2009 even before the end of the war against terrorism. Today Sri Lanka is a country of peace and political stability. The geographical centrality of Sri Lanka with several countries including the SAARC members around it, makes Sri Lanka the natural business hub of the region. The privilege to be the host of e-Asia 2009 amidst stiff competition from other high calibre countries accentuates Sri Lanka’s central position in trade and commerce in the region, Mr. Dewapura concluded.