UN-Backed Forum Offers E-Government Recipe For Sustained Development

Telecom Policy Report, Nov 12, 2003

Improved governance and public administration are necessary preconditions for sustainable development, according to the United Nations-backed Fifth Global Forum on Re-inventing Government.

The forum of more than 100 delegations, which convened in Mexico City last week, recommended the rapidly evolving tool of e-government to contend with the expectations of citizens in the 21st century.

Forum organizers said that e-government would enhance participatory democracy, while e-administration and back-office components would aid in the transition to the electronic delivery of services. E-learning also was emphasized as a strategy to build talent, using performance measurements, monitoring, evaluation and core public service values.

"The public sector must challenge itself continuously to improve the way it does business," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message read by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo at the opening of last week's forum.

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