In a ceremony which will make digital history this Friday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and President Clinton will seal a joint communique on Internet-based electronic commerce, using electronic signatures rather than the traditional pens. This method of signing an agreement has never been used before between two heads of state.
Mr Ira Magaziner, President Clinton's senior trade advisor, confirmed to The Irish Times yesterday that the signing - the subject of speculation last week - will go ahead, in an event to be held at Gateway Computer's Dublin facility.
The signing is significant because the technique of using electronic authentication of identity has yet to be widely accepted in the commercial and legal worlds. But it is viewed - by the US government in particular - as being an essential underpinning for e-commerce.
E-mail alone is not seen as a sufficiently secure medium for guaranteeing the identity of the sender of a document. For e-commerce to become viable, it is essential that the parties to an agreement be verifiable, and that electronic signatures carry the same legal weight as those produced with pen and ink.
It is understood that the company supplying the electronic signature technology is Dublin-based Irish firm Baltimore Technologies which in the past 18 months has become one of the leading global suppliers of encryption and other electronic authentication software.
For the United States, the electronic signing is seen as a way of highlighting electronic signatures as a reliable and secure means of guaranteeing identity, particularly for Internet-based transactions. In recent months, the Clinton administration has made the rapid implementation of e-commerce one of its priorities, successfully pushing for a commitment from the World Trade Organisation for an international tax-free environment for Web transactions.
From the Government's point of view, the event will allow Ireland to be presented as a key international e-commerce player. The signing conveniently comes as the Government is in the middle of a drive to make the country a potential European e-commerce hub.
Electronic signatures can take a variety of forms but primarily fall into two types, those which utilise encryption (encoding information by digitally scrambling it), and those which use some other form of verification, such as a "smart card" embedded with a microchip that carries data identifying the card's holder. The specific technology used for the signing is understood to be smart-card based.
The communique itself is perhaps the least important element of the ceremony, as it primarily reiterates agreements already in place at a European Union level. It should have been signed at the time of Mr Magaziner's visit to Ireland last June, but was delayed. Now, it will take on global significance because of the way in which it is being sealed.
Experts say many obstacles remain before electronic signatures will be widely used. At present, international law does not formally recognise electronic signatures, although many countries are working to create appropriate legislation to do this.
In addition, networks for registering signatures - so-called certificate authorities - are only beginning to come into existence.
In June, the government issued a framework document outlining its policies concerning signatures and certification authorities, but legislation has not yet been drafted.
