Ra Jin-goo, center, vice mayor for administrative affairs, receives the top award at the World’s 100 e-Government during an award ceremony at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul, Monday. This is the third consecutive time Seoul has received the honor since the launch of the biennial survey in 2003, which is conducted by Global e-Policy & e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University and e-Government Institute at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Other awardees included Hong Kong, London and Madrid. The ceremony was held as part of the World e-Government Mayors Forum, which continues through Wednesday.
/ Courtesy of Sungkyunkwan University |
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Mayors and governors from about 40 cities around the world have gathered in Seoul to promote cooperation and seek ways to use information technology (IT) to better serve citizens.
They have to come to the World e-Government Mayors Forum, hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, to share their experiences in e-government practice and present fresh visions for future e-governments. The event, which started Monday, will run for three days.
``E-government'' refers to the use of IT as a platform for exchanging information, providing services and communicating with citizens, businesses and other governmental sectors. The expected benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience and better accessibility to public services.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon emphasized the importance of the network in boosting cooperation and information exchange between cities.
``Information technology is an essential means to deliver public services to citizens, changing the paradigm of city administration,'' Oh said in his welcoming speech to guests on the official Web site of the event. ``This explains why it may be required for the international community to have a systemized structure by which different cities can share information.''
He hoped that the event will help raise the level of exchange and cooperation between cities around the world by being a discussion ground where they can examine and share good examples of e-government practice.
The Seoul mayor and other leaders of participating cities will jointly proclaim the Seoul IT Declaration, which aims to come up with practical ways to reinforce e-government collaboration.
They will also discuss the issue of forming a cooperative body between e-governments. Within the framework of the cooperation body, member cities will launch and carry out joint projects, including sharing models of e-government while narrowing the digital divide.
The World e-Government Mayors Forum is being held at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul under the support of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Governance Center, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the Korea Communications Commission.
The main participants are mayors, vice-mayors and chief information officers, officials from e-government institutes, other experts on digital governance, IT specialists and diplomatic envoys from international cities including Bonn, Berlin, Beijing, Jakarta, Nairobi, Milan, Cape Town, Helsinki, Sao Paolo, Barcelona, and Amsterdam.
The opening ceremony will commence at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday with a welcoming speech by Mayor Oh.
Oh's speech will be followed by those of other distinguishing guests. Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the One Laptop Per Child Association and a founder of MIT Media Lab, will deliver a keynote remark, followed by Guido Bertucci, director of Division for Public Administration and Development Management of UNDESA.
The forum consists of two main events ― Mayor's Roundtable sessions on Tuesday and two series of workshop programs on Wednesday.
At the Mayor's Roundtable, beginning at 11 a.m., participants will discuss the main topics, including ways to promote exchange and cooperation between global e-governments; and solutions to narrow the digital-divide.
At the second workshop session, participants will learn more about ubiquitous services, ubiquitous cities and successful examples of u-city.
Examples will include Seoul, which was named best e-government for three consecutive years in 2003, 2005 and 2007 in the ``Worlds 100 e-Governments,'' a biennial survey on e-government performance by Global e-Policy & e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University and e-Government Institute at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Other events include an exhibition that will continue through July 9 at the Crystal Ballroom Lobby at the hotel.
The exhibition consists of three sections ― the Seoul Metropolitan Government Pavilion, e-Government Pavilion and Ubiquitous World and GIS Pavilion.
Seoul e-Government Pavilion introduces policies and achievements of e-government of Seoul and examples of e-Seoul such as e-petition, integrated booking systems and e-taxation. It also presents Seoul's five key projects and their outcomes.
At Ubiquitous World, guests can experience u-Seoul programs such as u-Seoul mobile portal ``mSeoul702,'' u-tour and digital media street. GIS Pavilion displays GIS portal systems, road control systems and aerial photograph systems.
At the end of the forum, participants are encouraged to join one of the tour programs. In the IT tour, they will visit leading IT companies and organizers in Korea and in Cultural Tour, they will visit various cultural spots in Seoul.
For more information, visit the World e-Government Mayors Forum's official Web site at http://wegmf.seoul.go.kr.
e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr
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