Japan's selection of its members for a Group of Eight working group on the information technology revolution is being delayed due to a turf war among government ministries, government sources said Saturday.
Quick decision-making is required to handle issues in the rapidly changing field of high technology. It is ironic that Japan — which put the IT revolution at the top of the agenda at the July 21-23 Okinawa G8 summit — should be slow to select its members, the sources said.
At the summit, leaders from the G8 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — adopted the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society, which describes the IT revolution as "one of the most potent forces in shaping the 21st century."
The leaders agreed to establish a Digital Opportunity Task Force to follow up and coordinate policies and activities among governments and private concerns.
The G8 working group — to be composed of one government representative and one private-sector representative from each of the eight countries — will report the results of its deliberations at the next annual G8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
In sharp contrast with the U.S. and Britain, which have already chosen members for the public-private working group, Japan is having difficulty coordinating the interests of the International Trade and Industry Ministry, the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, the sources said.
In addition, Japan has yet to select its private-sector representative, they added.