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Friday, 29.03.2024
eGovernment Forschung seit 2001 | eGovernment Research since 2001
For many Belizeans, a trip to Belmopan to conduct government business means getting caught up in a lot of red tape...

But soon it could simply mean going online. And to help Belizeans learn the concept of E-Government, a new computer lab has been established with the assistance of Taiwan.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting

This morning official opening ceremonies were held at the George Price Centre for Peace and Development in Belmopan for the Belize/Taiwan Information Technology Training Centre. With thirty new computers, two servers, and technical assistance from the Taiwanese government, the equipment is expected to help revolutionise operations of the Government of Belize. According to Taiwan’s Ambassador to Belize, Charles Tsai, e-government is the wave of the future.

Charles Tsai, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize

”I believe that the government, it can make them efficient and also speed up, and also to help the private sector to do the e-business or a school for e-learning. But everything has to come from the e-government first.”

The idea is that over the next two years more than three hundred government employees working in priority areas will participate in training sessions held every two weeks, facilitated by Taiwanese instructors. It is hoped that in the not too distant future, accessing important documents like birth certificates and passports will not require trips to Belmopan and long waits. And according to officials at the George Price Centre, the public will also have access to the facility.

Elsie Alpuche, Curator, George Price Centre

”We have a lot of ideas for training, example, senior citizens who want to be updated about the newest technologies, IT, and also with the U.B. we are in discussion about providing training for high school dropouts that need some basic training to be ready for basic office jobs. So they could come here and get trained in basic use of Word, Excel and other programmes.”

Charles Tsai

”I will be very happy that the public and the students can also benefit from this facility, because when you provide facility, we make sure that you can fully utilize it.”

As part of today’s ceremony, Ambassador Tsai was presented with an award by the board of governors of the George Price Centre for his personal dedication and his country’s contributions to Belizean society.

The total cost of the two year programme is estimated at six hundred thousand Belize dollars. The project will include five conferences, eight computer training sessions, and the development of three application software programmes. Today marked the start of the first conference entitled, "A conference of Taiwan assisting Belize in Advancing Public Service Information System." Similar initiatives are also being developed in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama.

Quelle: Channel5Belize, 20.10.2005

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