E-Commerce in ASEAN In addition, the ASEAN Telecommunications Ministers (TELMIN) met on 27-28 August 2002 and signed the Manila Declaration resolving to exploit ASEAN's competitive edge in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Terms of references and work programmes have been developed for the five Telecommunications Senior Officials Meeting (TELSOM) working groups on information infrastructure, undertaking capacity building, universal access and digital divide in ASEAN, intra-ASEAN trade and investment in the telecommunications and IT sectors, and positive use of the Internet. The e-ASEAN Initiative has been transferred from the purview of the ASEAN Economic Ministers to the ASEAN Telecommunications and IT Ministers (TELMIN), except for elements relating to trade and investment liberalization and e-commerce promotion. There is an e-ASEAN Working Group (EAWG), which continues to contribute to the implementation of the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, covering the intra-ASEAN activities, cooperation with Dialogue Partners, and streamlining the current and future direction of EAWG functions. The EAWG has developed a funding mechanism to build sufficient financial resource with fast track approval process. The e-ASEAN operational mechanism has been restructured to reposition and enable the EAWG to respond to the need for convergence of information infrastructure and IT applications