Information and communications technology (ICT) continues to develop and transform. Since 2001, many countries around the world have steadily implemented policies for electronic government. The UN defines e-government as the continuous innovation in the delivery of services, public participation and governance through the transformation of external and internal relationships using information technology. In concrete terms, it means that governments use ICT to improve relations with citizens (G2C), businesses (G2B) and with other governments (G2G) to build a government that is responsive, efficient, responsible and provides higher service quality.

As the content and functions of digital governance become increasingly diverse, governments around the world are making a great effort with regard to infrastructure such as internet broadband and increased transmission speed to stimulate the digital economy and the development of digital governance, to increase national competitiveness overall. After Taiwan introduced digital government services in 1998, it acquired valuable experience in promoting the establishment of broadband and excellent digitized government services. 

In light of this, the TaiwanICDF continues to assist diplomatic allies and partner countries to upgrade their ICT telecommunications infrastructure and build e-governance systems and raise the skills level of related personnel through bilateral technical cooperation involving ICT-related technical assistance projects and loans. The aim is to use Taiwan’s experience of advanced government service integration to assist partner countries in building smart cities with digital technology, allowing citizens to enjoy faster and more convenient administrative services and thus increase overall national competitiveness.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, government administrative operations were previously mainly conducted using paper documents. In addition to the loss of documents and delays, the tracking and checking of these documents was not easy and there was no way to carry out effective file management, resulting in low administrative efficiency. In response to international trends in ICT and in line with the UN SDGs and with the aim of stimulating Taiwan’s ICT industry to develop internationally, from 2016 the TaiwanICDF has cooperated with the SVG government, using the Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) Project to introduce Taiwan’s e-government experience by establishing an "Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS)" and a "Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Digital Certificate System". The purpose is to assist the SVG government in converting its existing manual document management system to an electronic one and, moreover, ensure the document handling process meets various security requirements to build a system that conforms to international standards.

In St. Lucia, drawing on Taiwan’s comparative advantage of high internet usage and development experience, the TaiwanICDF used the technical cooperation method for the first time to implement the Government Island-wide Network (GINet) Project, assisting St. Lucia carry out Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructure building. The project mainly includes setting up wireless backbone networks and establishing wireless network hotspots, operation and maintenance centers and online management platforms in the public areas of five administrative districts, as well as carrying out maintenance personnel capacity building.

To address issues of security and transport regulations enforcement, the TaiwanICDF cooperated with Belize to implement the Motor Vehicle Registration and License System Project. Drawing on Taiwan’s experience and technology with regard to traffic supervision services, management system, consultation and system development, the objective is to help build a motor vehicle registration and license information database system, to reform and digitalize the transport processes and services, and introduce necessary audit mechanisms. This will increase government efficiency and protect the lives and property of citizens.

In ICT infrastructure, the TaiwanICDF provided a loan through the National Broadband Plan project to Belize Telemedia Limited to roll out broadband network. The fiber optic network has brought about great increase in speed and stability for users and has made business transactions smoother and offers more learning options, while also providing the foundation for the government to develop more ICT applications such as e-learning, public services and e-commerce and to promote the development of the digital economy and, in doing so, increase national competitiveness.

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