Continuous efforts needed to ensure NTP’s success

KUALA LUMPUR: A continuous and collective effort by Malaysia’s Digital Economy stakeholders will ensure the success of the National Transformation Programme, bolstering Malaysia’s aspiration to not be left behind in the digitised realm.

Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister, Datuk Jailani Johari, said the worldwide digital economy had been growing at an impressive rate of 10 per cent annually and more than triple the rate of overall global gross domestic product growth.

“Meeting the Digital Economy challenges requires collaboration among stakeholders, citizens, firms and the government towards developing new economy- wide approaches and policies,” he added.

He said this when delivering his keynote address at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s ( ASLI) Digital Economy and e-Commerce Conference here, recently.

According to Jailani, the government, through the Digital Malaysia programme initiatives, aims to move the digital agenda forward in four key policy areas, foundational to growth of the digital economy.

The areas are, Internet openness being high on policy agendas, digital trust to be strengthened, global connectivity reaching an unprecedented scale, with jobs and skills being radically transformed, he said.

Jailani said the digital revolution had accelerated the global production of goods and services, particularly digital trade.

“In 2014 global trade in goods reached US$18.9 trillion, while trade in services recorded US$4.9 trillion. There are more than seven billion mobile subscriptions, 2.3 billion people using smart phones and about 3.2 billion connected to the Internet yesterday.

“There will be different challenges as the population gets more connected in the next decade.We need a digital governance model to promote digital capacity building among administrators and regulators,” he added.

He said insights from the industry and communities at large, amid the government driving the Digital Economy agenda through the National Blue Ocean Strategy, would provide the needed synergy.

“Forums organised by ASLI, should be conducted continuously to get regulators on board and work together, while detailing synergies for a digital convergence model,” Jailani said. — Bernama