*********************************
To take the lead in adopting information technology (IT), the Government has been turning itself into an electronic government.
Speaking at a conference on e-government today (November 14), the Acting Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Cheng Yan-chee, noted that the Government had an e-government policy which was supported by a top-level commitment as promulgated in the "Digital 21" IT Strategy and the Chief Executive's Policy Address.
"In the 'Digital 21' IT Strategy formulated in November 1998, we have already set out our vision to make Hong Kong a leading digital city in the globally connected world," said Mr Cheng.
"When our Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa delivered his Year 2000 Policy Address last month, he reiterated that in gearing up Hong Kong for the knowledge economy, innovation and technology are essential to enhance productivity for our sustained economic growth."
Mr Cheng highlighted the major initiatives of the e-government policy as: to develop a community-wide information infrastructure that supports e-government; to make use of the infrastructure to deliver on-line public services and to conduct e-commerce with the business sector; to introduce inter-departmental and intra-departmental transactions and to adopt proper IT management practices within the Government; and to nurture an IT-savvy culture in the civil service and the community.
First of all, to support an e-government, the Government has established a comprehensive infrastructure within itself.
"We have installed almost one personal computer per two civil servants," Mr Cheng said. "To connect them together, we have established the Government Backbone Network (GNET) for interconnecting departmental networks and central services over a broadband, wide-area communication backbone."
"On top of the GNET, we have implemented the Government Communication Network (GCN) and the Government Office Automation (GOA) programme to provide computer facilities and electronic communication services to over 10 000 government users.
"The GOA programme will soon be extended to all officers with operational needs and will more than double the existing number of users," said Mr Cheng.
In August this year, the Government launched the Central Cyber Government Office (CCGO), an Intranet platform to facilitate government-wide electronic services and information dissemination.
"Within three months, we have connected 20 000 government users to this Intranet platform," said Mr Cheng.
"Apart from portal services, the CCGO will be further enhanced to support digital libraries, information databases, intra- and inter-departmental transactions and a web-based training environment," he added.
In the move towards e-government, the Government stepped up the security infrastructure through the implementation of the Central Internet Gateway (CIG) in March this year.
"The CIG enables government bureaux and departments to gain access to the Internet, and to disseminate information and communicate with the public over the Internet through a secure and centrally managed system," Mr Cheng said.
Equipped with security devices and automated tools to continuously monitor and control all incoming network traffic, CIG now connects more than 5 000 government users.
The capacity of the system will be expanded to cater for over 20 000 government users next year.
As to the community-wide information infrastructure that supports an e-government, Hong Kong has already had one of the best telecommunications infrastructure in the world.
Mr Cheng noted that the Government will continue to encourage competition and innovation under an open, fair and predictable regulatory framework to facilitate its development.
In addition to an excellent telecommunications infrastructure, the Government has also introduced a clear legal framework to provide a secure environment for the conduct of electronic transactions in Hong Kong through the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance in January this year.
To facilitate the adoption of electronic transactions, the Government has taken the lead in the establishment of a public Certification Authority through the Hongkong Post to enable an early implementation of a public key infrastructure in Hong Kong.
The Government has also established a common interface by adopting the ISO 10646 standard for the use of Chinese in electronic communication and data exchange among the Government, businesses and individuals.
Secondly, the Government makes use of the information infrastructure to deliver on-line services to the public and conduct e-commerce with the business sector.
With a view to driving the community in the early adoption and integration of digital technology into their daily life, the Government is going to launch the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme by the end of this year.
"The ESD is our flagship Government-to-Citizen and Government-to-Business (G2B) web site, through which the public an acquire a wide range of services on the Internet and public kiosks 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Mr Cheng.
"We aim at improving the efficiency and quality of public services, and at the same time, reducing the cost of delivery of such services," he said.
Mr Cheng also noted that the Government had set a leading example for the private sector in the area of e-procurement which was crucial to G2B e-commerce through the implementation of the Electronic Tendering System (ETS).
The ETS saves time and cost in the issue and despatch of tender documents and submission of tenders, as well as making full use of the Internet to extend the reach to potential suppliers from all over the world.
Thirdly, to launch inter-departmental electronic transaction, the Government has identified the pilot projects of on-line ordering of unallocated stores of the Government Supplies Department and on-line ordering of printing orders of the Printing Department.
On inter-departmental electronic transactions, the Government will conduct in the first half of 2001 a pilot on the Electronic Leave Application Processing System with which leave applications of civil servants can be submitted and processed electronically.
To ensure the adoption of proper IT management practices within the Government, appropriate and comprehensive IT management guidelines and practices on information security are issued to all government bureaux and departments to assist them in effectively implementing their own information security measures.
Additionally, government bureaux and departments are required to adopt proper software asset management practices to maintain the government policy of a strong intellectual property protection regime.
Last but not least, the Government, in a bid to nurture an IT-savvy civil service, has regularly organised forums for Chief Information Officers in bureaux and departments to ensure that they have a good understanding of the vision, strategies and plans for developing an e-government.
Training is also provided to officers with specific IT responsibilities. For other civil servants, the Civil Service Training and Development Institute provides on-line training courses on general IT skills through the Cyber Learning Centre.
The Government is also actively promoting IT awareness to different sectors of the community, such as enhancing the awareness and understanding of e-commerce among small and medium-sized enterprises, producing promotional materials to reach out to members of the public, and providing free computer facilities with access to the Internet for public use.
End/Tuesday, November 14, 2000
NNNN