The Eleventh Meeting of the FTAA Joint Government-Private Sector Committee of Experts on Electronic Commerce was held in Panama City, Panama, from October 24-26, 2001. Delegates from the following 19 countries were present: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, United States, and Venezuela. The agenda of the meeting is attached to this Communiqué. The Joint Committee discussed all items on its agenda and completed its work plan for the meeting. Future work will focus on matters related to consumer protection, electronic government and other issues. 

1. Approval of agenda.

2. Presentations on topics and issues related to the Digital Divide, including:

General issues:

• Mr. Elliot Maxwell, Senior Fellow for the Digital Economy, The Aspen Institute, USA. Topic: Increasing Digital Opportunity.

• Mr. Ramiro Soto. Chamber of Commerce, Uruguay. Topic: Digital Divide: Current Situation and Perspectives.

• Mr. Richard Bourassa, Head of Delegation, Canada. Topic: international developments on digital divide. The presentation will provide the latest information on the work of the G8 DOT Force and the United Nations ICT Task Force, two key initiatives aimed at bridging the various forms of digital divide.

Country experiences:

• Mr. Juan Luis Reus, Spokesperson, Andean Community. Topic: Perspectives from the Andean Community on Digital Divide.

• Ms. Martha C. Rodriguez, Director, Agenda de Conectividad, Colombia. Topic: Colombian experience in bridging the digital divide.

• Carlos Vera Quintana, Chairman, Corporación Ecuatoriana de Comercio Electrónico, Ecuador. Topic: Digital Gap. An inside view.

• Mr. Hugo Gallegos, General Manager, Instituto Peruano de Comercio Electronico. Topic: Peru's experience with various issues on the digital divide.

• Mr Tadao, Takahashi, National Coordinator for Information Society Programme – SOCINFO, Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil. Topic: Digital Divide and Electronic Commerce in the Brazilian Experience.

• Mr. Oscar Messano, Cámara Argentina de Bases de Datos y Servicios en Línea - ECOMLAC - Federación Latinoamericana y Caribe para Internet y el Comercio Electrónico. Topic: Cabase Study.

Specific issues:

• Mr. Daniel Mordecki, Manager of Business Development, OCA CARD, Uruguay. Topic: On-line credit card payment systems, in particular the experience with a new system launched by the Uruguayan Company, OCA CARD.

• Mr. Lee Tablewski, Dante B. Fascell North-South Center, University of Miami, United States. Topic: Educational innovation and digital opportunity.

• Mr. Matthew Ivis, Policy Analyst, Canadian Chamber of Commerce/Canadian Council for International Business. Topic: Canadian experience on bridging the digital divide between large and small businesses. The presentation will draw on the work of the Canadian Roundtable on E-Business, a blue-ribbon panel providing advice to the Canadian government on key aspects of e-commerce.