IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

“We’re all fine here. Thank you, Mr Prime Minister”, said David Tovovour, the Assistant Secretary General of Tafea, one of the six provinces that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Tovovour was speaking by videoconference from Isangel on the island of Tanna, 225km south of Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila on Efate island, where the Prime Minister was standing. The occasion was Vanuatu’s celebration of the 2012 World Telecommunications and Information Society Day.

That simple demonstration to the Prime Minister and to the public showed just how far the Government of Vanuatu has come in a few short years with respect to investment in, and deployment of information and communications technology (ICT). In 2008, the Government signed a loan agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China to finance the “E-Government Project”. The focus of the project was the development and commissioning of an SDH microwave and VSAT transmission network connecting Port Vila with the provincial capitals on five other islands, along with a fibre-optic network linking all Government agencies to each other and to a centralised data centre. The planned data centre would be equipped with a full complement of servers, data communications equipment, and software to support a full-featured MPLS network.

Read more: Integrating Government in the Pacific Islands

With UN reforms inching back on the global agenda and keeping climate change negotiations in mind, India is now wooing Pacific small island states with an e-network, on the lines it created in Africa, to bring them triple benefits of tele-education, governance and medicine.

Although the proposal has come from UN permanent representatives of six Pacific island nations who are currently visiting India, New Delhi is ready to go the extra mile to create the Pacific e-network for these low-lying coastal countries.

The envoys of the six countries - Solomon Islands, Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu, Micronesia and Vanuatu - visited the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) facility here this week.

Read more: India plans e-network for small Pacific island states

In response to the challenges and opportunities of this digital age, many public sector organisations are embracing the concept of e-government-government using information and communication technology (ICT) to improve their service delivery, strengthen accountability, and increase transparency.

To enhance e-government services in the Pacific region, the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), in collaboration with SPC, conducted a regional workshop on developing e-government and e-business strategies. The workshop ran from 10-14 May and was held at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel in Apia, Samoa.

Read more: Enhancing Government Services in the Pacific Region Using ICT

A group of government officials from Pacific Island states have arrived in the Republic of Korea to take part in an intensive course on ways to transform government operations and improve public service delivery through the use of digital technologies.

The course is centred on a two-week programme in Incheon and Seoul, where the 22 government officials from 13 Pacific Island countries will learn and exchange experiences and ideas with e-government experts.

Read more: Pacific Islanders In Korea For e-Government Skills