Chaiwut Thanakmanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society (DES), recently met with Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, to discuss the possibility of establishing information and communication technology (ICT) and digital technology cooperation between Thailand and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The meeting encompassed ESCAP operations under the Asia-Pacific Information Expressway Initiatives (AP – IS Initiatives) and sharing experiences on projects that promote the development of digital technology personnel through public-private sector collaboration with the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT).
Thailand was voted to the Governing Council for the term 2022-2025, as well as collaboration in having Thailand be a Pacific Internet hub via the CLVT countries’ (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Viet Nam and Thailand) Internet Exchange Protocol (IXP).
Key topics were discussed including experiences and policies on ICT and science, technology, and innovation (STI):
- Drafting the AP-IS Action Plan, Phase 2, 2022 – 2026, containing a summary of actions. and progress in implementing the recommendations of the Board Action Plan for the Implementation of the Asia-Pacific Information Expressway 2022–2026 Initiative to certify the document;
- Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology (4IR) for Sustainable Development;
- Assessing the potential of information technology needed in the Asia-Pacific region to provide information to the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development; and
- Trends in new technologies and innovations in computing. The results of the data play an important role in the Geographic Information System for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.
General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Prime Minister of Thailand, congratulated the agency that won the National Outstanding Achievement in Cybersecurity Award for 2022. The government places a lot of importance on maintaining cybersecurity by promoting and supporting governance so that agencies can avoid, deal with, and reduce risks from cyber threats. Organisations received a total of 31 cybersecurity performance awards from 21 agencies.
The National Cybersecurity Commission (NHSO) organised the “Prime Minister Awards: Thailand Cybersecurity Excellence Awards 2022.” There were 133 agencies that took part. It brought together the executives of agencies that have received the excellence awards with the goal of promoting the operation and supervision of important information infrastructure by government and private agencies, as well as other agencies, to improve their ability to prevent, deal with, and reduce the risk of cyber threats and to adhere to the Cyber Security Act’s recommendations and meet international standards.
Furthermore, through Minister Chaiwut, the winning team of the 2022 World RoboCup, an international robotics tournament, met with Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha. In this world-class robotics tournament, which featured more than 3,000 competitors from 45 countries, Thai children demonstrated their competitive spirit and won numerous awards.
The purpose of the event is to encourage AI research and industry development in particular the robotics and automation business and to establish a global network for the exchange of robotics-related knowledge between educational institutions of all levels and research organisations.
The Prime Minister acknowledged the organising team and the candidates who were prepared to advocate and watch the robot show performance as well as the student representatives from several universities.