Attended by delegates from Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Mongolia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the ITEE conference, held in Yokohama, Japan, was organized to coordinate the implementation of the ITEE in Asia and to have mutual recognition for the exam in the seven countries.

'I proposed the idea of gathering the seven countries which are in mutual recognition with Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Center (JITEC),' said Maricor Akol, president of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) and chairperson of the newly-formed IT Professionals Examination Council (IPEC). 'If each country gains mutual recognition not only with Japan but with the six other countries, it would be easier to promote the (ITEE) exam.'

Organized and sponsored by the Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) in Japan and JITEC, the conference brought together seven institutions from the seven countries to establish a common ITEE system and discuss the concerns and issues of each country and propose possible solutions for these.

The IPEC was formed to ensure that the ITEE examinations and qualifications are maintained at highest standards and credibility, said Akol. 'I proposed forming the council as a permanent means to maintain concrete cooperation and proper implementation of the MOU among member countries,' she said. Akol has been with PhilNITS since its inception, when JITEC first proposed the ITEE to the Information Technology Foundation of the Phils. (ITFP) in 2001 and Akol was still ITFP president.

With the perseverance of a core group from ITFP, the JITSE (Japanese IT Standards Examination) Philippine Foundation, Inc. was officially formed as an independent body and registered with the Security and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, nonprofit organization responsible for conducting the ITEE exams.