The "Emerging Market Economy Forum on Electronic Commerce" will be the first event of this kind organised by the OECD in the Middle East. The two-day e-commerce conference will be preceded on 15 January by two events: a Public Voice Conference which will provide a platform for consumer groups and other civil society organisations; and a Business-Government Forum on "Maximising the Digital Opportunity", organised by the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC).

A draft programme for the Forum has already been drawn up. It will open on January 16 with addresses from His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence for the United Arab Emirates and Donald Johnston, Secretary-General of the OECD.

Topics to be covered by the Forum include security and reliability of infrastructure and services; authentication; privacy consumer protection; the taxation of e-commerce (implementation of the Ottawa Taxation Framework Conditions); and "digital divides" within countries, including inter-country digital divides and digital opportunities, e-government, the role of small and medium-sized enterprises, intermediaries, and regulatory reform.

A number of high-level speakers are due to attend the Forum, to be hosted at the Burj Al Arab Hotel by Dubai Internet City, the organisation established to provide an infrastructure, environment and attitude to enable e-businesses to operate locally, regionally and globally out of Dubai with significant competitive advantages.

Attendance to the Forum is by invitation only, and further details may be found on the OECD's web site at http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/it/ec/act/dubai_ec/info.htm