Cagayan de Oro City is slated to host, for the first time, the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines – East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Working Group on ICT Meeting and the Convergence 2009 ICT Roadshow.

These two events will gather ICT stakeholders not just from the nation but from the ASEAN countries as well, and will showcase Cagayan de Oro City and Northern Mindanao as an alternative destination for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies in the country.

The BIMP-EAGA Working Group on ICT Meeting, the fifth to be conducted since 2007, will focus on the projects under the Roadmap to Development 2006-2010, with the goal of improving telecommunication infrastructure and ICT services in BIMP-EAGA. Among the projects to be discussed are the following:

• Establishment of a Secured ICT Network within the BIMP-EAGA
• Tariff Rationalization in Border Areas in the BIMP-EAGA Region
• Development of a Local Content (Databases) Related to BIMP-EAGA On all Sectors
• BIMP-EAGA Rink – Proposed alternative routing either through satellite, microwave and/or fiber-optic in BIMP-EAGA and to have a direct interconnection
• Promotion on the Use of Wireless Technologies Networks WIFI and WIMAX
• BIMP-EAGA Virtual Science & Technology and Business Center

The Working Group Meeting will be held on November 10-12, 2009 and will be attended by about forty to fifty delegates coming from the BIMP-EAGA region.

On the other hand, the Convergence 2009 ICT Roadshow, spearheaded by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), in partnership with Business Process Outsourcing of the Philippines (BPAP), Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) and the Cagayan de Oro ICT Business Council, will also touch ground in Cagayan de Oro on November 12-13 at the Pryce Plaza Hotel, Carmen Hill.

The roadshow, with the aim of enhancing awareness in the use of ICT and the numerous talent opportunities in the industry, will feature track sessions from different CICT initiatives and related IT-BPO discussion forums from key players in the industry. The National Computer Center (NCC) will also be spearheading the eGovernance track which will feature the following CICT initiatives:

• eSerbisyo and eBayad Project – free services being offered by NCC to national and local government agencies that will enable them to include their e-services into a common online portal as well as a government epayment facility and infrastructure without the need to worry about the cost of setup and maintenance.
• eLGU Project – a project that offers local government units with access to free open source based revenue generating systems for real property, business and other collections, capacity building programs and training for local government units (LGUs), among others.
• Philippine Community eCenter (PhilCeC) Program – the government’s answer to meeting the challenges of bridging the digital divide. LGUs in particular will be oriented on all aspects of this development-focused program and how to tap it to avail of free equipment, training and other support to jumpstart the establishment of a community eCenter in their respective municipality. Signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the latest batch of recipient LGUs will be done during the track.

The event will showcase Cagayan de Oro’s readiness in terms of accommodating BPO locators and other ICT companies having its very own IT Park in Pueblo de Oro, which has been the home of a BPO company, Concentrix, for some time. There will also be a BPO-IT talent caravan during the event which can strengthen the link between local talents with ICT industries.

The eGovernance track has limited seats available. Confirmation of attendance to the track should not be later than November 6, 2009. For attendance confirmation and other queries, contact the following persons with your name and contact numbers:

For Cagayan de Oro-based participants:
SIGFRED RIENARD TADLAS
Telecommunications Office X, Cagayan de Oro City
Phone: (088) 350-3005  Mobile: 0917-457-7205
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For provincial participants:
LEONISA GIL
NCC-FOO, SRT Loong Building, Veterans Avenue Extension, Tumaga, Zamboanga City
Phone: (062) 991-2724, 993-2878  Mobile: 0917-505-8856
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Through these two ICT events, Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao will expect more development and economic growth,  specially in terms of its ICT industry, as well as more opportunities for the local talents in the region.