E-government improves delivery of civil services
By Azaraimy HH

Dato Paduka Hj Hazair and Asean representatives signing an agreement at the conference.

After three days of deliberations, the 12th Asean conference on civil service matters on the theme "e-Government: An Opportunity for National Development and Public Sector Modernisation" ended yesterday.

Chaired by Brunei Darussalam, the conference was attended by all Asean countries, representatives from the Asean Secretariat and observers (local and overseas).

In his closing remarks, Dato Hj Hazair bin Hj Abdullah, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, said the conference has been able to address the important current issues of e-government and use of ICT in public service delivery.

E-government will be the future of Asean civil services in improving transparency and efficient delivery of services, he said.

"Most importantly this conference has been able to identify and chart the areas of our future cooperation in the field of civil service by taking stock and supporting Asean leaders' aspiration towards Asean Vision 2020 and Initiative towards Asean Integration with particular reference to the Bali Concord II", he said.

"We have also discussed many issues related towards service improvement and we have shared views and we heard from each other on how e-government and ICT projects were implemented and we learn for each other what are the best practices in management and ICT development.

"We have also agreed to form a new Asean Resource Centre on Training for Trainers based in Myanmar. What is also encouraging to note that all Asean countries have worked hard implementing e-government in the civil services even though the level of accomplishments vary from one another.

"Nevertheless, I am confident that through the exchange of experiences, knowledge and concern that we have had in this conference will help to expedite the full implementation of e-government in all our services.

"The success is a manifestation of true of commitment and determination between our civil services to strengthen the scope of cooperation in the field of civil service which will further cement the bond of friendship, understanding and cordial relations between our agencies through the field of civil service," he said.

The ACCSM has been established for the last 16 years with the mission to develop effective, capable, accountable and responsive civil services in Asean through the strengthening of the existing mechanism for networking, mutual learning and sharing experiences among members; promotion and facilitation of exchanges of best practices and other public management innovations by enhancing the role of Asean Resource Centres providers of expertise in their respective areas of competencies; and establishment of supporting initiatives to help Asean Civil services develop and adopt cutting edge practices.

The conference agreed that further evaluation be carried out by a working group and will report to the next Technical Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan next year.

Cambodia has accepted to host the 13th ACCSM to be held in 2005.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin