Under a memorandum of understanding signed in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday between the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications and the Daewoo International Corporation of South Korea, Daewoo will undertake the project with the cooperation of Myanmar.
The signing took place during a visit to the new capital by Daewoo President Young Won Kang and Korean EXIM Bank Chairman Cheon Sik Yang.
The Korean delegation met with Myanmar Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs Brigadier-General Thein Zaw on the day and discussions were made on cooperation between the two countries in the sector of communications, according to the sources.
Daewoo along with another South Korean company, KCOMS, had implemented the basic e-government project for Myanmar under a 12- million-US-dollar contract which covered provision of information and communication technology infrastructure for the Myanmar government and linking of its 38 ministries to a high-speed internet network and computerizing of its document management system and personnel management system.
So far, Myanmar has launched some e-government systems including e-visa, e-passport, e-procurement and e-D (departure) form to effect management of government bodies.
Of them, the e-D form system was the latest introduced in last November for all travelers leaving the country to facilitate people across the nation in their process for exit after a passport is ready at hand.
With a special website for e-D form purpose put up on the internet, the e-D form system is being directly administered by the ministry based in Nay Pyi Taw.
Myanmar's e-government project is implemented under the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement signed at a regional summit in Singapore in 2000 with the aim of narrowing the IT gap among the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Meanwhile, the authorities have projected to introduce 400 public internet service centers in 324 townships in the country within three years to facilitate communication links.
According to the authorities, the number of internet users in Myanmar has reached to nearly 300,000, up from merely 12 four years ago.
Quelle/Source: People's Daily Online, 10.05.2007
