Fifth Caribbean Ministerial Consultation on Regional Cooperation for E-Government. Capacity Building. Porters, St. James, Barbados.

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1 Fifth Caribbean Ministerial Consultation on Regional Cooperation for E-Government Capacity Building Porters, St. James, Barbados June 2004 The Work of the US Virgin Islands as Chairman of the United Nations Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC)

2 To address the issue of E-Government from the perspective of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation (CDCC), it would be useful to set in context the role of CDCC in the regional development process, and its place within the United Nations system. The CDCC is an intergovernmental organisation of the wider Caribbean at ministerial level encompassing some 23 governments. It was created in 1975 by the Caribbean governments of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) as a permanent subsidiary body of ECLAC. The CDCC is serviced by the ECLAC Subregional Office in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The US Virgin Islands assumed the chairmanship of CDCC at its 20th Session which convened on the island of St. Croix from April The CDCC reports to ECLAC, which in turn reports to the Economic and Social Council of the U.N. It is the only Caribbean body with ministerial decision-making power within the U.N. system. The Role of CDCC in the World Summit on the Information Society CDCC Governments have contributed to the broader preparatory process of the World Summit on the Information Society in the run-up to the Geneva phase of the WSIS. In this connection, CDCC governments participated in the Regional Preparatory Ministerial Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in January, 2003, and joined with the wider hemisphere in adopting the Bavaro Declaration which made the issue of e-government a specific priority. In the Declaration, the governments stressed: C The need for enhancing public sector performance through the adoption of e- government tools for the sector s modernisation and good governance. The Declaration indicated that the steps taken to this end should reflect an approach that combines electronic information- based services for citizens. The Declaration emphasised the importance of a one-stop user window to provide citizen-oriented e-government services. An important element of the Bavaro Declaration focused on the need for ways to finance activities directed toward building an information society within a national development context. 2

3 Prior to Bavaro, CDCC governments were informed through a principal background document prepared by ECLAC - the Road Map Towards an Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean 1 that emphasised that a balanced e- government approach needs to combine electronic information-based services for citizens (e-administration), with a citizen-centric user interface - again, the one-stop shop. The document went further to emphasise that e-government projects need to become a central part of State modernisation reforms and need to include all levels of government. The document recommended that e-government must be an incremental, steady process, as the nature of the public sector does not allow sweeping organisational changes to be made overnight. CDCC Governments were further informed through the document Latin America on its path into the Digital Age 2 Which defined the institution of government as the central manager of information that could benefit greatly from incorporating information and communication supporting technologies into government activities. The focus here is to incorporate modern ICT successfully into all government activities. The CDCC governments were finally informed through the document Building an Information Society - A Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, 3 which focused on the need to clarify public policy objectives to be sought through e-government, which can begin with the elimination of excess paperwork in a given government function, followed by a series of systematic steps to integrate e-government into the mainstream in a digestible, non-threatening modality. The hemispheric review of the emerging information society, in particular its focus on e-government, taken along with similar declarations from other regional 1 Road Map Towards an Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, Regional Preparatory Ministerial?Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the world Summit on the Information Society, Bavaro, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, January Latijn America on its path into the Digital Age, Division of Production, Productivity and Management; restructuring and Competitiveness Network; Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago, Chile Building an Information Society - A Latin American and Caribbean Perspective, ECLAC, 2003, 3

4 preparatory sessions worldwide, positioned the issue of e-government as an international priority. Thus the global WSIS plan of action, which provides the global legislative authority for action and support for initiatives in the broader area of the information society, reflected the importance of implementing e-government strategies focusing on applications aimed at improving efficiency and strengthening relations with citizens, and catering to the needs of citizens to achieve a more efficient allocation of resources and public goods. The CDCC Approach In recognition of the contribution of the Bavaro Declaration, and the subsequent WSIS Plan of Action, the CDCC has agreed to a number of complimentary actions in furtherance of the progressive acceleration of e-government in its member governments. Ongoing is a study being undertaken by the Port of Spain Headquarters, as part of its Programme of Work for the Biennium , on the effects of new information technologies on the performance of the Caribbean economies. A report on the status of this activity was provided at the 20th Session of CDCC this past April. Closely associated with this activity is the envisaged organisation of a seminar on information management for public sector officials in the Caribbean. In the Biennium approved at the 20th Session of CDCC under the subject area Statistics and Information Management for Development, a number of status reports are envisaged on the development of the Caribbean Information Society. In this connection, the CDCC Secretariat presented a comprehensive review of the WSIS plan of action to the 20th Session of CDCC, with focus on the challenges associated with its implementation in the Caribbean. This report was made with specific emphasis on the potential for knowledge and information to be put to use at the service of development - which in the final analysis is the overarching reason for the utilisation of 4

5 the new technology. The CDCC Report went on to outline ten connectivity and content targets to be achieved by governments, and praised activities such as the Ministerial Consultation on Regional Cooperation for E-Government, and previous such consultations with the aim of developing national e-strategies which would clearly articulate how countries planned to deploy digital technology to promote e-government. The report emphasised the distinction between the mere acquisition of the paraphernalia of the Digital Age and the productive deployment of these tools in the service of Caribbean development. It stressed that the development challenge must be in the forefront of any plans top create an information society. At the present, the CDCC Secretariat is mobilising resources to implement an activity on the transition to a Caribbean Information Society 2005 which would entail a regional consultation with all stakeholders, a series of national consultations, the development of ICT profiles of each CDCC member country, among other activities. The most recent action taken by the CDCC in this regard was the adoption of a resolution at CDCC XX which supported the call for extrabudgetary support for this initiative which would encompass the broadest array of countries of the wider Caribbean irrespective of their level of political or constitutional development, consistent with the composition of the CDCC membership. In closing, the CDCC governments are of the view that collaboration within the region on the various elements of the information society, particularly those emerging from the WSIS process, is critical if the region is to make the best use of resources available. Equally, the increased participation of the countries of the region, especially the smaller countries, in the next phase of the WSIS in Tunis should be encouraged, beginning with the preparatory session for the region to be held in Brazil in December This would ensure Caribbean input in the final WSIS outcome which, in large measure, would determine the level and direction of resources devoted to IT initiatives for developing countries. 5