ADVANCING PERU'S DIGITAL FREEDOM INITIATIVE

UNCLAS LIMA 002217 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/AND, WHA/EPSC, EB/CIP - TCARNEGIE/WAYALA COMMERCE FOR 4331/MAC/WH/MCAMERON COMMERCE FOR OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY/KFERGUESON USTR FOR KSCHAGRIN/JMCHALE FCC INTERNATIONAL BUREAU FOR ETALAGA AID FOR BRENDA FISHER/NOREEN JANUS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECPS ETRD EINV ECON PE SUBJECT: ADVANCING PERU'S DIGITAL FREEDOM INITIATIVE REF: A) LIMA 1587 B) LIMA 1158 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Post continues to promote the Digital Freedom Initiative in Peru, coordinating closely with the GOP and the private sector. The five DFI subgroups on software, hardware, e-commerce, business models and telecommunications have met in the past two months to review development priorities and regulation issues with the GOP. The DFI Working Group, which consists of nine members of the GOP, Embassy and private sector, is working to establish a bilingual DFI Peru webpage, which should be completed by August. The DFI Working Group will meet with the Garcia Administration transition team in the next month to determine how the DFI will fit into the new government's plans for rural development. End Summary. Working with Subgroups on DFI Issues -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The DFI Working Group, which includes nine officials from the Embassy, GOP, and the General Managers of Voxiva Peru, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Cisco and Intel, continues to work with the five subgroups (software, hardware, e-government, business models and telecommunications) to promote development and regulatory change. Three of these subgroups - software, hardware and telecommunications - have met and are working on establishing projects that can be completed by December ¶2006. The groups, focusing on creating projects that help small businesses, improve connectivity and general access to information technology, are attempting to devise projects that can be implemented at a low cost. Each group will present proposals to the DFI Working Group in July; from there, the Working Group will seek to find U.S. and Peruvian businesses that can assist, either through technical or financial assistance, with implementing the programs. ¶3. (SBU) The E-Commerce/E-Government group is planning to work with officials at the municipal level to promote the use of the Internet. In conversations with the Mayor of Miraflores (a municipality in Lima that uses the Internet for government transactions),the E-Government group discussed the possibility of arranging digital video- conferences (DVCs) with municipal leaders in rural areas to promote E-Government opportunities. Speakers, including the Mayor of Miraflores, would explain the importance of interconnection via the Internet and how local governments can improve services by offering them online. The E- Government group will work with the Embassy to help coordinate this event. DFI Webpage -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The DFI Working Group is currently working to establish its own DFI website, which will provide details on DFI projects in both English and Spanish. We decided to use www.dfiperu.com.pe as our domain. Cisco will purchase the domain name and will help establish the website, which may be ready by August. Once the website is established, we will request that key Washington agencies set a link to the website on their DFI pages. Working with the Next Government -------------- ¶5. (SBU) During our last DFI Working Group meeting, representatives from the Ministry of Production noted that we need to coordinate with the new Administration to ensure that we do not lose momentum. The Peruvian Presidential elections were on June 4; once the APRA Party transition team is established, members of the DFI Working Group will meet with the team to discuss future DFI plans. GOP officials are confident that the incoming Garcia Administration will support the DFI, as it seeks to improve connections throughout Peru and provides small and micro- businesses with opportunities for economic growth. Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Embassy, along with many U.S. and Peruvian companies, agree that the expansion and use of telecommunications services will foster economic and social development in the rural areas of Peru. We expect that the incoming Garcia Administration will support our DFI programs, although we are unsure what role the Ministry of Production and Ministry of Communications will play in our DFI Working Group. In the meantime, the DFI Working Group will continue to work on smaller programs, such as bringing in 70 donated computers and holding DVCs with local governments, until the new government decides how the DFI fits into its rural development plans. STRUBLE