Minister for Digital Transformation Kohno went on a business trip to Indonesia.

Minister for Digital Transformation Kohno visited Bali and other countries from August 30 to September 3, 2022, and attended the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting. He also took this opportunity to exchange opinions with ministers and others from various countries.

1 G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

Minister Kono visited Bali and other islands from August 30 to September 3 to attend the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting. For more information on the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting, please refer to the press release we announced the other day (below link).

• Minister for Digital Transformation Kono participated in the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

2. Bilateral Talks

During the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting, I held bilateral meetings with participating ministers, including H. E. Mr. Vaishnaw, Minister of State for Electronics, Information Technology, Communication and Railways of India; H. E. Mr. Pratae, Minister of State for Information and Communications of the Republic of Indonesia; H. E. Mr. Theo, Minister of State for Information and Communications of Singapore; H. E. Mr. Colin Collins, Minister of State for Technology and Digital Economy of the United Kingdom; H. E. Mr. Alswaha, digitalization

As the G7 Presidency for next year, Minister Kono shared his intention to make reliable and free data flow (hereinafter referred to as DFFT) one of the main themes and to promote its realization and collect best practices on data protection. At the same time, he introduced Digital Agency's efforts and exchanged views on efforts for human resources and procurement methods and concepts of systems in each country.

I held a meeting with the Minister of State for Electronics, Information Technology, Communications and Railways of the Indian Presidency for G20 next year. We exchanged views on topics of Indian interest, including digital connectivity, supply chain resiliency, privacy-related issues, and Issue, including the utilization of Indian IT human resources.

Although we did not reach a final agreement on the Ministerial Declaration, we once again shared our recognition of the significance of the priority areas ((I) connectivity and COVID-19 recovery, (ii) digital skills and literacy, and (iii) DFFT) that we have been discussing for the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration as the Chair of the G20 Summit. We also had a wide-ranging exchange of views on how to proceed in the future, including our mutual contributions to digital human resources.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Abe also attended the signing ceremony of the MoU between the Asia-Pacific area Research digitalization Network (ARENA-PAC), the Indonesian Research education Network, and Bra Vijaya University, aiming to strengthen the education.

With Singaporean Minister of Information and Communications Theo, we deepened our recognition of the differences in our business fields and cooperation systems with organizational system and private sector. We also exchanged opinions on how we can spread digital IDs and e-invoices as DX for society as a whole and DX for companies and citizens. We shared our recognition that we will further cooperation under the Memorandam of Cooperation (MoC) (, which signed the Memorandam of Cooperation (MoC) in the digital field with , Singaporean minister in charge of GovTech) signed in May 2022.

With Secretary Collins of the Department of Technology and Digital Economy of the United Kingdom, we confirmed that we will strengthen our bilateral relations in the Digital Issue, taking into consideration the reflection on future discussions at the G7 to be held next year and the Japan-UK Digital Group (, which launched the Japan-UK Digital Group), which was launched to deepen digital cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom. At the G7 to be held next year, there were expectations that we would like to lead discussions in cybersecurity, online security, and other areas in DFFT.

Saudi Arabian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Al-Suwaha expressed his respect for the Japanese efforts in Society5.0 and commented that he was greatly influenced by them. He also introduced the current digital policy of Saudi Arabia and efforts in smart cities and the Cyber Physical System. Saudi Arabia also has a high interest in e-Sports and promised continued discussions in the future.

I explained various experiences with H. E. Mr. Hollen, Minister of digitalization of the Netherlands, as a country in the EU where digitalization is progressing. In addition, as both countries are aging societies, we exchanged views and shared recognition on Issue and ways to resolve the digital divide, referring to the efforts of the Japanese Digital Promotion Committee.

In addition, I exchanged views with senior officials from Australia, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and others on our efforts in security measure, DFFT, and digitalization. We discussed future cooperation, shared Japan's efforts, and collected information for future domestic and international efforts.

3 Online Press Conference

Following the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting on September 1, Minister Kono held an online press conference.

• At the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' Meeting, I conveyed the following: "It is the first anniversary of the foundation of Digital Agency," "Recognition of digital transformation's delay in the novel coronavirus pandemic," and "Digital Agency's various digital policy initiatives."
• The Ministerial Declaration was not adopted because no agreement was reached in the discussions on the issue of Russia
• In addition, I held bilateral meetings with ministerial-level officials from Indonesia, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and other countries.

And others.

Contact

Digital Agency Strategy & Organization Group International Affairs
In charge: Yahata, Osafune
Phone: 070 7416 9903 (Yahata), 070 2476 6619 (Osafune)