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Central Government, Government

South Korea and Singapore sign e-government pact

By Robin Hicks | 17 June 2010

Two of Asia’s biggest exporters of e-government systems, South Korea and Singapore, have struck a deal to share ideas and lessons learned on e-government service delivery and strategy. The memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed June 16th 2010, will see the two countries collaborate on e-government projects and support each other through workshops and events.

One of the first meetings after the signing will focus exchanging views on emerging public service delivery channels like TV and smart phones.

“Singapore and South Korea have their individual strengths in e-government and each country has its own approach and strategy. This MOU provides both agencies with opportunities to share ideas and approaches that would potentially lead to greater synergy and yield outcomes - which are greater than what we can achieve individually,” a spokesman at the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore told FutureGov.

Kim Seang-Tae (pictured), President, National Information Society Agency (NIA), added: “This [agreement] not only further develops both nations’ e-government standards, but also helps to further enhance e-government knowledge and experience sharing with other Asian countries.”

An IDA delegation visited the NIA in Korea last year to exchange views on e-government and infocomm development. The subject of collaboration was broached during the visit, and both agencies saw the value of a formal tie-up, the IDA spokesperson noted. The idea is to identify projects that both countries are interested in, and would mutually benefit from.

Last week, collaboration emerged as the central theme of Singapore’s next e-government masterplan, although it is unclear whether or not Korea will play a role in the planning and execution of the plan, which is still under development.

Korea and Singapore are two of Asia’s most advanced e-government nations. Korea was ranked number one in the 2010 United Nations E-Government Survey (in which Singapore ranked 11th), while Singapore came top of the 2010 Waseda University International e-Government Ranking (in which Korea was ranked 7th).

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