Are we not becoming too sophisticated for our own good and to the detriment of the users of the technology?

We are developing great pictures, highly (almost classified) security measures, elegant routing systems etc. Taken by tself, each development is very nice. Overall however, the upshot is that the computer from two years ago, is outmoded and slow junk today. Of course all that forces people and firms to upgrade - and be part of the times. But as far as developing countries are concerned, this is almost like the introduction of highly sophisticated supply chain management without the logistics basics. I am not arguing for barefoot doctors - but perhaps for a satisficing standard that does the job (and offers the vast majority of the benefits) without making the medium the message.

Mrs. Anabela Cerrud R. de Delgado, Administrator, Morgan & Morgan (a_cerrud@hotmail.com) ...

In Panama, my experience is that non-profit organizations and private business are making strong efforts to help students become e-competent, especially those from public schools. Non-profit & private organizations donate computers to schools and in some instances provide a volunteer to help teachers and students acquire the necessary knowledge.

Sometimes, these resources are lost since voluntarism is not a wide spread characteristic among our population.

Robert Payne, Chief Information Officer, Trencor Limited, (robp@trencor.net) ...

Regarding the statement made by one of the participants at the Executive Forum, "What's Africa's export potential?

Nil in such a skill, capital and technology intensive export sector. African firms should concentrate on adding value in those sectors where it has possibilities of being competitive."

Absolute nonsense. Southern Africa is poised to export knowledge and skills via leveraging the excellent (and renowned) capabilities in the development of information technology solutions. And, just like the Indian successes with the "export" of IT skills into Silicon Valley, there are already many initiatives in place within the Southern Africa region to do the same - offering (regionally) economically viable solutions to the global economy at very low dollar costs.

There are also significant moves in the Internet economy, with exciting developments taking place with e-commerce, largely thanks to no (or very little) mammoth legacy as is found in first world countries, little infrastructure which prompts new ideas using digital and wireless technologies, etc. Also, the South Africa banking system, renowned for its progressive nature, is continuing to pioneer new ways of doing its business through the use of information technologies.

Perhaps we should start concentrating on the export of knowledge and ideas, and free ourselves from the constraints imposed by the industrial-age thinking of the past two centuries.

David O'Connor, OECD Development Centre, in Paris, France (david.oconnor@oecd.org)...

Regarding your summary statement: "While developing countries are increasing their share of the Internet Component Technology (ICT) export market, only a few developing countries are actually involved (e.g., India, China, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Hungary, Poland, South Africa and Mexico)." Depends to a degree on how you define developing countries, but even so it seems rather inaccurate. Other important countries include: Malaysia and Thailand for a start (much more important than several of those listed), also all of the East Asian NICs (Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) -- who are in a league apart. Indonesia may not be doing well now, but for awhile it wasn't doing badly in ICT exports.

The great pity about government programmes, however noble in their intent, is that they sometimes fail to reach the grass roots of the new economy. With the real genius (and potential job & wealth creation) of the new economy coming from start ups, governments need to realize that sector has been decimated by the greed and destructiveness of the share market. The April stock crash of dot coms (a.k.a. "dot bombs") has meant that any start up is a leper and unlikely to succeed without access to government- backed low interest loans. Venture Capitalists are just as greedy as the market and not a secure alternative to IT start ups. Many good companies have failed, not because there is anything wrong with their fundamentals but because of the lack of working capital. Unless governments address this threshold issue, all the talk about new e-conomies being the nirvana for developing (or mature economies) for that matter is a lot of well- meaning hot air.

Larisa Khlebossolova (tpprkaz@online.ru), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan ...

Unfortunately, in Kazakhstan e-commerce practically is not advanced. Some companies make first steps, but basically, they are unsuccessful. What is the role chambers of commerce are playing in developing e-commerce?

Cristobal Maria Eickert (ceyasoc@feedback.net.ar), Eickert & Asociados, in Buenos Aires, Argentina ...

We believe that the biggest hurdle to active e-commerce is distrust. E-commerce is meant to be a network for small cooperating organizations but there is no real way to establish trust, when real money is involved.

Our group of specialists has worked in the field of quality, security and environmental management systems and we believe that we have a very cost effective system of validating "bona fide" Internet merchants, we have a net of worldwide contacts that make it possible to personally make an audit (if they so request it) with a stable criterion by a certified quality auditor and give the interested organisations a certificate that states that they comply with a set of minimum requirements.

We believe this seal, certificate or sign of trust should be given by an independent NGO, so if you find our idea has merit please contact us asap we are interested in developing this concept.

The comments just received from Ms. Domeisen and Mr. Sayers lead me to these thoughts. Much of what is being created in new relationships and new types of interconnection in the value chain is happening in the contract which is essentially the private law between the parties. Contracts provide flexibility in a rapidly changing arena.

One risk of legislating too soon is the risk of creating structures that may not spur the national development strategy and may, inadvertently, hinder the development strategy of the country. They may also inadvertently help the strategies of other competitors.

Frank Neirynck, San Marcos University, in Lima, Peru (frank.neirynck@fiee.uni.edu.pe) ...

Peruvian enterprises are showing a lot of interest in e-commerce especially aimed at exporting more.

The main barrier to development of e-commerce in Peru is not e-competency as much as the pricing policies maintained by the Peruvian telecom industry who found in the Internet another cow to milk. A 64kbps connection to the Internet costs as much as US$650 and a T1 connection costs US$8000 a month. This makes e-commerce unfortunately unavailable for SMEs who otherwise show stark interest in the possibilities. Not a day goes by without the offering of interesting, well attended conferences on the subject while the increase in e-commerce sites is VERY limited.

Peru is working on a national "IT Strategy" but, under current telecom pricing policies, that strategy is no more valuable than the paper it is written on.

E-commerce is now being thought at some universities like the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, but the big question all students ask me (the professor) is, "What is the use of taking the course while APEC considers Peru one of the countries with the smallest odds for real e-commerce development. In the log run, the capability for Peruvian companies to compete in a global marketplace will thus depend largely on a Spanish telephone company's pricing policy.

Vikrant Bhusal, Assistant Manager, Worldlink Communications in Kathmandu, Nepal (vikrant@wlink.com.np) ...

In comparison to snail-pace development in most of the sectors, Nepal has developed remarkably within a very short span of time in the field of Information Technology.

Today the market of Internet users has tremendously grown, likewise has grown the number of Internet service providers - 9 ISPs are already operational. This has resulted in a cutthroat competition and a drastic fall in the price of Internet. Rates have fallen from Rs 6/min to Rs 0.5/min within past 2 years. Internet now has become accessible to the general populace which has opened the market for e-commerce.

• No cyberlaws have yet been created and trading with credit cards within the country is not yet secure.
• Government is not actively participating in the development of information technology.
• The market still remains centralised within the capital, Kathmandu.
• Every technology needs to be imported.

Business is more active in e-commerce development than the government. A burning example is the round table conference on e-trade recently conducted with the sole motivation of a private firm, ITNTI, jointly held with the Ministry of Science and Technology and UNCTAD. This was attended by the representatives of more than 51 developing countries.