<<July 24, 2000>>
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Mazlan Othman <mazlan.othman@unvienna.org>

Roger Lee Boston <rboston@tenet.edu>

Emilio Vento <evento@unido.org>

J. M. de Caldas Lima <jde-caldas-lima@unido.org>

Motilal Sharma <msharma@mail.asiandevbank.org>

Victor Kotelnikov <vkotelnikov@unov.un.or.at>

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>

Dear Ms. Othman:
================

(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I) in response to my 7/23rd list distribution of

"Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society akin to GSTF - July 23,
2000" which can now be retrieved at <http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/7-23-a.html>.

Your msg came in just good time -- see Item (4) below.

(2) Your planned conference in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia in November/December
2000 sounds very interesting which is on "Bridging the Digital Divide in
the Asia/Pacific Region" and which focuses on the solutions offered by
satellite technology. This is because;

(a) One of our major goals is to provide distance learning and
telemedicine in remote/rural areas of developing countries which
can be done mainly with the use of satellites.

See:
Global broadband Internet networks: <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Global_Broadband_Internet/Global_Broadband_Internet.html>

(b) The University of Guam (UOG) is now launching a new distance
education initiative which will involve a regional effort directed
towards increasing the availability of educational services to the
people in remote areas of the Western Pacific. For this
initiative, they are now holding a workshop "Charting the Future
Course of Distance Education in the Western Pacific" on August 1st to 3rd, 2000.

See:
"Workshop in Guam on 8/1-3/2000 - June 21, 2000" at
<http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/index.html>.

They have invited Roger Boston in Houston and me in New York to
give talk and greetings via videoconferencing during this workshop.

The University of Guam will connect their videoconferencing unit
via PEACESAT satellite to an ISDN bridge at the University of
Hawaii, which will then connect to a multipurpose bridge at
Houston Community College via terrestrial ISDN line, which will
then connect to a 8x8 videoconferencing unit at my office via
Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).

This shows our effort of providing affordable distance learning
courses in the remote/rural areas with the use of satellite.

I think that our approach is very much in line with yours.

(3) Subsequently, I would very much like to help and participate in your conference.

However, I have following events;

(a) Early October, 2000

Invitational visit to McGill University in Montreal, Canada

(b) 10/25/00 - 10/27/00

The 14th Annual Conference of The Asian Association of Open
Universities at The University of Philippines/Open University, Manila, Philippines

(c) 11/26/00 - 11/29/00 (*)

Mini-workshop with delegates of UNAMAZ, PanAmerican Federation of
Associations of Medical Schools, Brazilian Association of Distance
Learning, distance learning universities in Latin America and the
Caribbean, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), United Nations
University of Peace in Costa Rica, Global University System,
[Arthur C.] Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information
(CITI) on the initiation of feasibility study to deploy broadband
Internet for education and healthcare in Caracas, Venezuela.

(d) December, 2000

Global Summit Meeting of world Leaders for the Establishment of
GSTF in Washington, D.C.

Pls let me know the exact dates of your conference so that I may be able
to squeeze it into my schedule.

(4) During our phone conversation a few weeks ago, Mr. Vento of UNIDO told
me the following:

(a) Their original plan of holding a workshop for their people in
Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe (and of
their technology centers in various countries) in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia in September, 2000 is to be reconsidered.

See:
"UNIDO conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - January 21, 2000" at
<http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/early-2000/1-21-b.html>.

(b) Mr. Lima will be back in office from today after his trip to
Brazil and Mr. Vento will talk with him to have a telephone
conferencing with me on either 7/26th (Wednesday) or 7/27th
(Thursday) to discuss;

1. the possibility of having a workshop in the near future,

2. the possibility of a joint fund raising for their follow-up
project of deploying distance learning/training after the
workshop is over, etc.

Our experiences found that funding sources prefer a
workshop/conference which is not one-time event, but
which will have follow-up projects for further development.

I am now waiting Mr. Vento's email informing me the exact time and
date of our telephone conferencing.

I would then suggest that you may join in our telephone
conferencing at their office in your next building.

(5) I strongly recommend Dr. Sharma of the Asian Development Bank in
Manila as one of the speakers in your workshop, since he is very
knowledgeable on distance learning in the Asia/Pacific region.

See his excellent paper on;
"Poverty reduction with Information technology in developing countries - July 10, 2000" at

<http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/7-10-b.html>.

(6) How would you like to have Japanese involved in your project? You may
be able to get some leads to them in Japan;

(a) through Japanese officers at UNIDO,

(b) through Dr. Joe Pelton (who has connections to high echelons of
Japanese government and industries), by Victor of your office (who
knows Joe well),

(c) A few months ago, a Japanese newspaper article reported that the
Japanese government will send 10,000 Information Technology (IT)
trainers to developing countries.

This may be by the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), since Mr. Fujita (S.G.) mentioned about it when I
visited him in the spring of 1999.

Pls let me know more in detail how I should help you on this.

(7) Once again, pls talk with Mr. Vento ASAP if you may join in our
telephone conferencing, and pls convey my best personal regards to Victor.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

From: Mazlan.Othman@oosa.un.or.at
To: Tak Utsumi <utsumi@friends-partners.org>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:46:47 +0200
Subject: Re: Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society and Global

Dear Prof Utsumi,

I know I haven't been an active participant of your discussions so far. But I
have been reading your emails.

I have a programme i would like to bring your attention to.
In November/december 2000 my Office is planning to hold a conference for the
Asia pacific region in Kuala Lumpur on Bridging the Digital Divide, focussing
on the solutions offered by satellite technology. We are at the stage of
drawing up the final programme and the list of speakers etc. My office will
pay the airfares to bring the LDC'c in the region to the conference. The
malaysian govt has agreed to be the host country.

How do you think we could work together on this? I read your Okinawa charter
and it's very much in line with the UN philosophy on the issue. Could we get
the Japanese involved?

Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

PS I know you were trying to get funding from UNIDO. We have tried many times
to get them to commit themselves to something, anything, but we remain
unsuccessful. Have you anything to report? We decided to move on in this topic
and anytime UNIDO has resources to commit, they can come on board.
mazlan
****************************************

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List of Distribution

Mazlan Othman
Director
Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA)
United Nations Office at Vienna
Vienna International Centre
P.O. Box 500
A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: (+43-1) 26060-4950
Fax: (+43-1) 26060-5830
E-mail: mazlan.othman@unvienna.org

Roger Lee Boston
Rockwell Chair/Instructor
Distance Education/Technology Center
Houston Community College System
4310 Dunlavy Street
P.O.Box 7849
Houston, Texas 77006
USA
Tel: +1-713-718 5224
Fax: +1-713-718 5301
rboston@tenet.edu
boston_r@hccs.cc.tx.us (secondary)
http://www.rboston.com
http://www.teched.org/
http://www.hccs.cc.tx.us
http://www.teched.org/Finland
http://www.teched.org/ChinaLive
http://www.teched.org/starlink
http://www.teched.org/hist00/brazil/

Emilio Vento
UNIDO-ICS Liaison Officer
UNITED NATIONS
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
Vienna International Centre
P.O. Box 300
A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: (+43-1)-26026-3726
Fax: (+43-1)-26026-6811
E-mail: evento@unido.org

J. M. de Caldas Lima
Coordinator
Capacity-Building for Institutional Development
Investment and Technology Promotion Branch
UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
Vienna International Centre
P. O. Box 300
A-1400 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: (+43-1)-26026-3729
Fax: (+43-1)-26026-6809
E-mail: jde-caldas-lima@unido.org

Motilal Sharma
Senior Education Specialist
Asian Development Bank
6 ADB Avenue
Mandaluyong City
0401 Metro Manila
P. O. Box 789
0980 Manila
Philippines
+632-632-6797
+632-632-4444 (main)
Fax: +632-636-2310
+632-636-2444 (main)
msharma@mail.asiandevbank.org
http://www.adb.org

Victor Kotelnikov
Political Affairs Officer
Office for Outer Space Affairs
United Nations
Vienna International Centre
P. 0. BOX 500
A - 1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: (43-1) 211-31/4955
Fax: (43-1) 213-45/5830
E-mail: vkotelnikov@unov.un.or.at

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/index.html
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.html
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************

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