HIGH-LEVEL MEETING TO EXAMINE E-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN CARIBBEAN

 

A High-Level Steering Committee Meeting 6 November will examine the outcome of two projects of e-government in Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The meeting, to be held in the 19th floor Conference Room of the United Nations DC2 building, will feature Italy’s Minister for Reforms and Innovation in Public Administration Luigi Nicolais, Saint Lucia’s Minister of Public Service Lenard Montoute, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Minister of Telecommunication, Science, Technology and Industry Jerrol Thompson, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang and Guido Bertucci, Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Participants will assess the two projects -- the result of the cooperation among the Governments involved and the United Nations -- and explore possibilities for future such activities in the Caribbean, which would involve the Department as an executing agency, the Italian Government as a donor and possibly the two countries as champions, assisting the Department in transferring the outcomes of the projects to other Caribbean countries.

The project in Saint Vincent sought to enhance the Government’s official website, transforming it into a portal that would facilitate coordination and information sharing within Government agencies, as well as interaction with the citizens, by eliminating redundancies and creating a simpler way to provide services to citizens.

Saint Vincent’s project has involved carrying out a capacity-building plan and training sessions, and implementing a pilot application in the area of e-accounting and related software.  The website has become a multichanneled web-portal that provides information and services within the Government and the administration as well as to citizens and businesses.  An e-taxation application permits the online payment of the taxes by civil servants.  The project was completed in four instead of the foreseen six months, and additional objectives were achieved within the same budget.

The Saint Lucian project involved integrating the information systems of the Government’s agencies.  A feasibility study has defined operational solutions and guidelines for upgrading current procedures, integrating operations and simplifying processes across Government agencies, and aiming at transforming the way Government agencies interact with citizens and provide services built around citizens’ needs.  The study has provided the Government with a scenario and operative guidelines to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

For further information, please visit www.unpan.org/dpepa-kmb-eg-egovtc.asp or contact Edoardo Bellando, Department of Public Information, Tel.:  212 963 8275, e-mail:  bellando@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record