Thank you very much for the opportunity to join you today. I will concentrate my remarks to a few points, with focus on the ICT-policy in general, ICT sequrity, SPAM, electronic signatures and broadband. Many of you have participated in the OCED-conference the last few days where some of these topics also where in focus. But, these are important aeras to discuss.

We launched in May 2002 our ICT strategy called ”eNorway 2005”. eNorway 2005 generally in line with the policy recommendations of eEurope 2005. Use of IT must support political targets, and eNorway will show the way and make the ICT-policy visible. There are three goals for The Norwegian Government ICT policy :

• Creating value in industry
  The expansion and use of information technology shall pave the way for creating value through enhanced innovation and competitiveness in Norwegian industry.
• Efficiency and quality in the public sector
  Information technology shall be used to make the public sector more efficient and at the same time offer new and improved services to users.
• Involvement and identity
  Everyone shall be able to exploit opportunities within information technology, and IT shall play a role in the preservation and further development of our heritage, identity and our languages.

In order to fulfil the promise of the digital economy, a number of issues need to be addressed. The electronic conduct of business and of government transactions requires a high level of availability and trust. This encompasses logistics for delivery of actual goods or services, secure payment solutions, and, not in the least an all-encompassing security. Security must not be confined to the network alone. Secure business and government systems, as well as well-entrenched culture of security in enterprises, government agencies and among the general public, are all needed to provide necessary trust.

Trust and security might be achieved by building necessary infrastructures as well. This in turn requires great attention to the choice of standards upon which such infrastructures are to be based. Secure networks supporting sector-wide, global systems are a significant step on the way, but they still restrict the possibility of all types of business partners to interact securely over a global network. Such systems may also lead to creation of monopolies that may hamper the further growth of the digital economy.

We need, through a common effort, to secure the efficient and safe use of the Internet, as one of the main tools to conduct global e-commerce and to deliver eGovernment to the citizens of various countries.

The Norwegian Government therefore launched a national stratgey for information security in May this year. The main reasons for developing such a strategy is:

• Reduce vulnerabilities in critical IT-infrastructures and systems, build a culture of security
• Facilitate secure electronic commerce, e.g. by providing solutions for electronic signature and electronic identity
• Establish a coherent policy base for the authorities
• Introduce suitable coordination of efforts in the field of IT-security on the national level

Although the strategy primarily targets government, industry and organizations, all users of information technology – including individual users – stand to benefit from it as most are connected to local, national and international networks. Work is already underway in various government departments to carry out several of the measures outlined in the strategy.

SPAM is a hot topic. The proliferation of spam has reached a point where it creates a major problem for the development of e-commerce and the Information Society. Spam has the potential to destroy some of the major benefits brought about by services such as e-mail and SMS. Spam is a global problem, need for a global approach, but there is also a need for national actions. In Norway The Ministry of Transport and Communications is now in the process of working out an action plan against spam.

Electronic signatures is an important element in order to develop and fasten the use of electronic services and electronic business. For example are many norwegian municipalities and public bodies now developing different electronic services at the Internet. Many of these projects involves electronic signatures.

The Government work towards ensuring private enterprises and individuals easy access to electronic signatures. A common infrastructure for e-signatures will be developed through efficient utilization of market forces and competition mechanisms. Some weeks ago 13 norwegian companies and two ministries (the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration) have signed a contract in order to cooperate about common standards and a common infrastructure for electronic signatures.

Increased transfer capasity in electronic communications infrastructure will play and increasingly improtant role for innovation, effeciency and value creation in society and industry. In September 2003 the Norwegian Government´s White Paper on Broadband was launched. The Paper shows that both the broadband market and needs are developing positively, even faster than expected. A forecast for the period up until 2008 produced by Forrester Research show that in Norway around 45 % of households will have a broadband connection by 2008. According to the prognosis, this will be the highets connection rate in Europe. Like most other OECD countries, Norway has chosen a market-based strategy for the rollout of broadband. It seems to work !

It is important that the infrastructe should be seen in connection with the development of services, content and skills. In different parts of Norway a wide variety of projects have been initiatuted to speed up the rollout of broadband in Norway. Local initiatives are important for broadband rollout. The authorities will encourage continued development. The HØYKOM programme, has so far had a major triggering effect, and the programme is proposed to be expanded.

Thank you very much for your attention and I wish you all the best for the rest of the Round Table discussion.