The workshop organized jointly by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and the United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan through Communication and Information Agency of Uzbekistan and Association of IT Companies and Organization of Uzbekistan.

This event, first of its kind in Uzbekistan, will attract key government officials of Central-Asian countries, international and regional organizations, private sector and leading specialists and experts in the ICT field to discuss the role of broadband access in socio-economic development in general and development of the ICT industry in particular, at national and regional levels. This workshop will be financed by the contribution of the Government of Japan to UNESCAP.

Over 100 national and international experts from Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Switzerland and Japan, as well as from international organizations are participating in the workshop discussions.

The principle objective of the workshop is to promote and support the cooperation among Central Asian countries in broadband and ICT development. The workshop particularly aims to achieve the following specific outcomes:

• increase awareness and knowledge on broadband and ICT issues;

• serve as a discussion forum on issues of broadband and ICT development in Central Asia;

• facilitate cooperation among Central Asian countries in ICT development;

• formulate the strategy to enhance regional cooperation on ICT development involving all stakeholders in Central Asia.

The workshop participants will address important and challenging issues of broadband and ICT development, regional ICT development trend, mobile Internet and recent technologies for promoting broadband, telecommunication standards, next generation network, xDSL technologies, FTTx optical broadband access and standardization on broadband wireless access. The meeting also aims to discuss the roles of national governments and international organizations in broadband and ICT development in Central Asia.

The workshop will encourage further cooperation among Central Asian countries and all stakeholders in the development of a regional broadband network and creating an enabling environment for the development of such a network in Central Asia. Based on discussions and major findings of the workshop, Tashkent Statement will be adopted.

The workshop will be followed by Open Roundtable "Introduction of Broadband access technologies in the countries participating in Regional Commonwealth in the field of communication" in the afternoon of 22 June 2007 at the International Business Center.