PACINET2008, RAROTONGA, COOK ISLANDS

MAUREEN HILYARD – eGOV PROJECT MANAGER

17 September 2008 

1. Summary

1.1 Cook Islands delegates who attended the Pacinet2007 conference in the Solomon Islands were authorized by the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, Tuaere Tangianau, to bid for the Pacinet2008 conference to be held on Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Their bid was successful and the ICT Unit was tasked to initiate preparations for the 2008 conference on behalf of the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC). Communications with the President, Franck Martin and Secretary Aliitasi Usele-Petaia, began in February and were very helpful in establishing conference contacts and preparations.

 1.2 The purpose of the PICISOC conference was to gather together people, with both technical and non-technical backgrounds, from around the Pacific region to share knowledge and information about the work of the internet and ICTs in the Pacific. The theme of the conference was “ICT for quality of life” which was relevant to the Cook Islands as it is the first objective of our National ICT Policy.  The conference also gave people from the Pacific an opportunity to visit the Cook Islands, many for the first time. Visitors from outside of the Pacific participated in the conference, both physically (from Korea, Taiwan, USA, NZ, Australia, Luxembourg and Japan) and virtually (Mexico, Philippines, Malaysia, USA, India, China and other places that I missed due to organisational duties) at our IPv6 Forum. This virtual participation was the first time that this type of presentation at a conference had been made in the Pacific.

Download > PacINET 2008 Group Photo

1.3 One of the objectives of my eGovernment workplan for 2008 is to raise public awareness about eGovernment and the use of the internet and how government agencies are working towards the enhancement of their delivery of information and services. The conference was an ideal vehicle to promote the intent of the Cook Islands National ICT Policy as well as the progress of eGovernment in the Cook Islands to interested participants from around the Pacific. The PacINET conference was therefore included into the workplan of the eGovernment Project as a conduit for encouraging greater public awareness of the government’s focus on more transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability within the public service.

1.4 As a result of the government presentations at conference, Tofinga from Health and Helen and Aporo from Police have been asked to repeat their presentations for the staff of Internal Affairs. This is a very positive spinoff and highlights the interest that some Heads of Ministries have in sharing information, skills and knowledge. After conference, the Police were given a special presentation and some software to help them in their policing work by the forensic expert, Michael Spence, and on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ICT Unit has identified two young delegates from local Ministries for an eGovernment workshop to be held in Korea at the end of October. The Cook Islands is already starting to gather other benefits from the conference for the workings of Government and our eGovernment project.

1.5 From March, potential sponsors were sent letters of request for participation. Dr Vint Cert of Google was one of the first to respond. (ISC)² was a contact made through Franck. Contact with Pacific organizations was made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cook Islands. Regional sponsors included the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC); SOPAC; Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat; and the Forum Fisheries Association.   1.6 Local sponsorship was requested in kind. Two major sponsors were integral to the success of this venture and their contribution was priceless. TELECOM COOK ISLANDS was one of these partners. Essential requirements of the host country included continuous connection to the internet for delegates; enough capacity to drive the Marratech system so that the conference could be attended virtually by participants around the world; and video teleconferencing connection to enable virtual presenters. These expectations were achieved with varied success but overall PICISOC reported general satisfaction with the delivery of our Telecom service. PITT MEDIA GROUP played a vital role in raising public awareness about PacINET, the internet and eGovernment. Their generous sponsorship and support through the different media (televisions, radio and print) reached a wide section of the community and greatly assisted our eGovernment objective.

1.7 CONFERENCE FUNDING:

 

(ISC)²	USA	NZ$     5118.36
SOPAC	Fiji	NZ$    11998.00
Google	USA	NZ$    13605.42
PIFS	Fiji	NZ$      4338.50
SPC	New Caledonia	NZ$    14985.00
FFA	Solomon Islands	NZ$      6624.00
UNDP	Samoa	NZ$    12006.91
		------------
		68676.19
	Less bank fees	80.73
		-----------
	Bank balance	68595.46

 

 

1.8 EXPENSES:

 

Venue preparation	NZ$    13903.50
Special events	NZ$    22563.00
Conference hospitality	NZ$      7505.91
ICT hire & purchases	NZ$    13554.20
Raising Awareness	NZ$    10396.45
Miscellaneous	NZ$          91.75
	------------------
	68014.81
Bank balance  (credit)	NZ$       580.65*

                             

1.9 In February, an organising committee was established consisting of volunteers - from those who had previously attended a Pacinet conference and anyone who were interested enough to help from both the public and private sector. All Ministries were sent a letter inviting them to send an interested person along to the initial meeting. I thank them sincerely for their contribution not only to a job well done but also for being there from that very first meeting and loyally committing time and energy to the decision-making required to undertake this task and being on hand each day of the conference to make our plan a reality. The committee members were:

1.10 Free registration for the Pacinet conference caused a frustration for the organizing committee. Because there is no registration fee there is really no obligation for registrants to attend or even to indicate that they are not going to turn up. This makes it difficult for Pacific countries who are undertaking an event with limited funds. We planned for 130 registered delegates but only 110 of those who registered (including late local registrations) arrived, resulting in some cost areas being perhaps larger than they might have been. Several overseas delegates left the conference after the AGM on Wednesday but their places at the Gala Dinner were given to special guests as a gesture of thanks for their support of our work.

1.11 The opening of the conference involved a formal turou to welcome visitors to our marae provided by the Ministry of Cultural Development. Delegates were welcomed by Maureen Hilyard (Coordinator of the Conference Committee) and Franck Martin (President of PICISOC). The Prime Minister opened the conference. William Tuivaga provided a seamless and entertaining flow of the programme as MC.

1.12 The conference programme was set by PICISOC and the Cook Islands delegates were fortunate to be able to negotiate some time in the programme to present to the conference how we are implementing eGovernment in the Cook Islands. Presentations were made by Maureen Hilyard (eGovernment); Tofinga Aisake (for Health); Helen Henry and Aporo Kirikava (for Police); Anaseini Pokino (for Education); Timoti Tangiruaine (for Ministry of Works); and William Tuivaga & Charles Carlson (for Emergency Management). Special commendation was made about our eGovernment presentations by Dr Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of the United Nations – Asia Pacific Centre of ICT Training and Development, who requested copies of the videos and presentations to be used as part of the eGovernment training programmes used at the UN-APCICT Centre in Seoul.

1.13 Workshops were held at the end of the week. The larger groups, Internet Governance and the IPv6 Forum, were held in the main auditorium, while other smaller groups were held in the VIP room next to the auditorium and in the conference room of MOCD. SOPAC used the resource room of the Pukapuka Hall for the four days of the workshop.  

1.14 Dr Rhee and Siaosi Sovaleni of SOPAC jointly sponsored and ran the separate workshop “ICT Essentials for Policy Makers” which ran concurrently with the conference. Unfortunately they took a large number of the local participants from the general conference, but the course was valuable from the perspective of eGovernment and eGovernance and contributed to building a stronger knowledge base among Cook Islands participants for the development of our eGovernment work in the Cook Islands. Dr Rhee had to return early to Korea, but was replaced by Dr Sky Son. Thanks to Maria Tuoro and Donye Numa for assisting with the SOPAC workshop. The data projector was provided by OPM. The Pacinet funds covered the cost of the workshop venue, the hire of the furniture and the printing costs which totaled nearly $2500. We also organized the lunch service and the production of the banner by Island Signs but these were paid for by SOPAC. 

1.15 Donations were offered by visiting organizational representatives. The One Laptop Per Child was offered by the RICs representative, Ian Thomson, of SPC. This proposal is being considered by Education. Mike Spence of Computer Forensics presented software to the Police Department to help them with their policing work in forensics, and Keith Davidson from Internet NZ provided an Eee laptop for someone in the outer islands who has promoted ICT in Education. Their selected recipient is Thomas Samuel of Mitiaro School. 

1.16 PICISOC.org was the site which provided the information in preparation for conference from the Cook Islands. I did not find this site very easy to use for updates. Fortunately we had Aporo and Timoti to do this for us, but they were pretty busy with their own work. I am assuming that PICISOC will load the presentations from PacINET2008. There appears to be some interest in the presentations.

 

Preparing for Pacinet 2008

As part of the introduction of e-Government to the Cook Islands, the ICT Unit of OPM is involved in the hosting of the annual conference of PICISOC. The conference will enable the Ministries and business sector of the Cook Islands to demonstrate how the internet can be and is being used in innovative ways to benefit businesses and the people of the Cook Islands. The internet has impacted on everybody's lives in some way in the Cook Islands and this conference gives us all an opportunity to hear and see how the internet is improving lives across the Pacific. The theme of this year's event is  "ICT for quality of life".

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