Phys Org, AFP, March 16, 2013
Google chairman Eric Schmidt will visit Myanmar next week, highlighting increasing Internet freedom in the former pariah state just weeks after a controversial trip to communist North Korea.
 |
| US Internet giant Google executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, pictured during a visit to Paris, on October 29, 2012. |
Google chairman Eric Schmidt will visit Myanmar next week, highlighting increasing Internet freedom in the former pariah state just weeks after a controversial trip to communist North Korea.
Schmidt
will speak in Yangon on March 22 as part of an Asian tour, the Internet giant said,
aiming to boost web access in the country, ruled for decades by a repressive
military junta.
Under the
military regime the Internet was strictly controlled, with access to
anti-government sites and sites such as YouTube blocked.
As major
economic and political reforms roll back decades of repressive rule, increasing
numbers of people are going online to air their views.
But
Internet penetration remains poor in Myanmar, long cut-off from the rest of the
world by sanctions, and those with web access have to put up with painfully
slow connections.
Schmidt's
visit aims "to connect with local partners and Googlers who are working to
improve the lives of many millions of people across the region by helping them
get online and access the world's information for the first time," the
company said in a statement.
He will
give an hour-long speech at the Myanmar Information and Communication
Technology Park, according to Thaung Su Nyein, secretary of the Myanmar Computer Professionals Association, with
hundreds expected to attend.
"Computer
professionals, businessmen and youth leaders will come. Google is one of the
biggest IT companies in the world.... We are very proud and glad that their
executive chairman would come and visit us."
Myanmar is
one of Asia's last untapped markets, with overseas technology companies
desperate to sell products such as mobile phones and laptops to its people as
they attempt catch up with their neighbours.
Schmidt
made a private visit to North Korea in January, warning after his trip that the
nation, which last week threatened a nuclear strike against the United States,
will not develop unless it embraces Internet freedom.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment