From left to right, Ms. María Alejandra Sepúlveda from Chile; Miguel A. Porrúa, Coordinator of the Electronic Government Unit and Ms. Sheila Donovan, Director of Development Programs, IACD/OAS.

July 28-29, FUNGLODE/GFDD, in collaboration with the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD), Organization of American States (OAS), held a two-fold program around the subject of Electronic Government in Santo Domingo. The IACD/OAS, led by Sheila Donovan, Director of Development Programs, and Miguel A. Porrúa, Coordinator of the Electronic Government Unit, initiated a deep exploration on the experiences of other countries in adopting electronic tools for government management, which included Mr. Abraham Sotelo, Director of the Electronic Government Unit for the Government of Mexico; Ms. María Alejandra Sepúlveda, Executive Director for the Reform and Modernization Program of the Government of Chile, Mr. Nigel Hickson, Electronic Government expert with the Ministry of Tourism, Telecommunications, and E-Commerce of the Government of Bermuda; Martin Hilbert, Economist with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the U.N., CEPAL; and Hernán Moreno, Director of the Connectivity Agenda, Ministry of Communications , Colombia. Domingo Tavárez, FUNGLODE's Director of the Center of Studies for Society of Information and Telecommunications, moderated the panel.

The first part of the program gathered senior public servants and political appointees from different ministries and other governmental agencies that had a full day seminar during which the audience was exposed with detail to the experiences of the above mentioned experts in their respective countries. Mr. Rafael Camilo, Coordinator for the Transition Commission of the Finance Secretary; Mr. Héctor Valdez Albizu, from the Central Bank; Ms. Alejandrina Germán, from the Ministry of Education; Mr. Julio César Valentín, with the National Council on Drugs; Miguel Cocco, with the General Secretariat for Customs; Mr. Melanio Paredes, with the National Budget Unit; Mr. Ligia Amada Melo, former Secretary for Education; Mr. Luís Manuel Bonetti, former Secretary for Industry and Commerce; and Mr. Francisco Domínguez Brito, former District Attorney General were among other members in the audience that participated in a dynamic and illustrative discussion on the subject and its application to the Dominican reality.


Mr. Abraham Sotelo, Director of the Electronic Government Unit for the Government of Mexico

The panelists exposed how the application of Information Technologies has increasingly manifested itself as an instrumental tool in the work of public administrations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some of these countries in the region have now achieved important advances in the modernization of their tax operations, registrations, licenses and permits, customs, etc. This movement towards electronic government in Latin America and the Caribbean has played a key role in reducing costs and increasing revenue collection for federal, state and municipal governments, as well as in promoting the creation of small businesses, training human resources, providing better health services and improving living standards in general.

The incorporation of electronic government tools in the experiences presented by the panelists have assisted their governments in:

•  Modernizing their operations

•  Improving services offered to their citizens

•  Augmenting transparency and reducing corruption

•  Increasing citizen participation

The event also included a presentation of E-Government to the society at large that took place on the evening of July 29, which attracted a massive audience and provided the opportunity for a lively discussion and question and answer session during which important aspects of the implementation were approached.


Hernán Moreno, Director of the Connectivity Agenda, Ministry of Communications , Colombia

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