Question 17-3/2: Progress on e-government activities and identification of areas of application of e-government for the benefit of developing countries

In accordance with the terms of reference agreed at WTDC-10 ITU-D Study Group 2 Question 17-3/2 is responsible for examining issues related to e-government activities and identifying areas of application of e-government for the benefit of developing countries. The progress on e-government activities and identification of areas of application for e-Government for the benefit of population are issues of growing concern of many developing countries. For this reason the Question seeks to compile guidelines and lessons learned on e-Government related activities, with special attention to the use of mobile and wireless platforms for the provision and payment of services in rural and remote areas.

At the recent meeting of ITU-D Study Group 2 held in September 2011 document D10-SG02-INF-0017 titled “First draft of a toolkit for ICT-based Services Using Mobile Communications” was discussed and approved as a base for the work to be undertaken within the framework of Question 17-3/2. The meeting decided to continue the work and seek the involvement of more experts in the process of developing the Toolkit.

Taking into account that ITU-T Study Group 17 is the lead group on telecommunication security, it would be beneficial to take advantage of the collaboration between ITU-T SG17 and ITU-D SG2 Question 17-3/2 in the development of the security-related aspects as a chapter of this Toolkit. ITU-T SG17 can play an important role in the development of security part of the Toolkit for ICT-based services using mobile communications. Question 17-3/2 thereore invites ITU-T Study Group 17 to contribute to the development of this section of the Toolkit. It would furthermore be useful to evaluate the practical level of implementation of relevant ITU-T Recommendations in the area of e-Government. Noting that these issues constitute part of the task assigned to ITU-D Study Group 2 Question 17-3/2.

The next Rapporteur Group meeting for Question 17-3/2 will be held in Geneva on Tuesday, 8 May 2012 and the Group would be grateful to receive the input from ITU-T SG17 for consideration at this meeting.

ITU-D SG2 Question 17-3/2 would like to thank ITU-T SG17 in advance for the information provided for the development of the Toolkit.