KUALA LUMPUR March 17 - The National E-Commerce Master Plan will be presented to the National E-Commerce Committee next month, said Multimedia Development Corporation's (MDC) director of client services Dr Muhammad Ghazie Ismail.

The full report of the master plan, scheduled to be completed by the end of this month, will serve as a guideline towards creating a competitive and conducive environment for the development of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in Malaysia, Muhammad Ghazie told reporters after the opening ceremony of Microsoft Professional Developers Conference here today.

''As far as e-commerce is concerned, we hope to create an environment conducive to global e-commerce business and to realise the opportunities and potential of this new sector for the Malaysian economy,'' he said in his opening speech.

He also disclosed the initial findings of the master plan which proposes seven pillars of competitiveness - innovation, content, IP protection, distribution, market access, brand identity and trusted service interfaces.

With regard to the security of e-commerce transactions, another certification authority (CA) will be established in addition to Digicert Sdn Bhd which had obtained its establishment licence approval, he said.

The new CA, known as MSC Cybersign International Sdn Bhd, is now at the stage of applying for an establishment licence and is expected to be operational by the third quarter of the year.

MDC, Muhammad Ghazie said, is now in the process of developing an incubator with a 50,000-square feet facility in Cyberjaya specially for local software developers to further develop their products.

Known as the Central Incubator, it will serve as a key element in transforming the developers into a community of small and medium scale entrepreneurs, he said.

The Central Incubator, he added, will be linked to local universities as well as MDC's network of partners overseas to enable the developers to capture potential markets, both locally and internationally.

Among the activities to be carried out at the incubator are software development, e-commerce-related research and product development, Muhammad Ghazie said.

The three-day Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, which was organised by Microsoft (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, brought together local software developers to provide them with the latest technology, expertise and resources in building dynamic applications and solutions for the global market.