PM: NITC’s role enhanced to spur ICT devt

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KUALA LUMPUR: The role of the National Information Technology Council (NITC) is to be reinforced and upgraded as a high-level think tank to advise the government on information and communication technology (ICT)development, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday.

Najib, who is NITC chairman, said this was to spur the country’s ICT agenda and facilitate growth of the ICT sector towards attaining the objectives of the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) and transforming the country into an innovative digital economy.

“In order to play a more effective role in providing input to the government on the strategic direction and policies, dedicated work groups will be established for nine core areas comprising experts from the public and private sectors and the community,” he said in his opening speech at an NITC meeting at Parliament House, here.

Najib said the core areas would be divided into four categories, namely ICT as an industry, ICT as an enabler, ICT for the community and ICT critical success factors.

“The Cabinet discussed this proposal on Nov 12 and I was made to understand that it will be tabled at today’s meeting,” he said.

Najib said that based on the current growth of the ICT industry, the government targeted to make Malaysia a vibrant hub for the creation of ICT solutions for export.

He said the transition of the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to the third phase from 2011 to 2020 was timely in transforming Malaysia into a knowledge-based economy and, at the same time, assisting in the attainment of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

“Thus, there is a need to use ICT widely and fully in all industries, the government sector and in the community, and to create ICT-friendly infrastructure and business environment,” he said.

Najib said that in the government’s efforts to transform the national economy and improve the people’s well-being through the ETP, ICT was a catalyst in five of the eight Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) and was used in all the NKEAs.

Twenty-five of the 50 initiatives under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) would depend on ICT while 28 of the 131 Entry Point Projects (EPPs) identified under the ETP were ICT-intensive, he said. — Bernama