Hong Kong Government Commits to Promotion of E-BusinessThe Hong Kong government is committed to the promotion and adoption of e-business, both in conducting internal business operations and in delivering public services to the businesses and community, a senior technology official said Wednesday.At present, 65 percent of the Hong Kong government services that are amenable to the electronic mode of delivery already have an e-option under the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme, Director of Information Technology Services Alan Wong Chi-kong said at the opening ceremony of the Asian IT Expo 2001. Wong said, "Our target is to increase the e-option for government services from 65 percent to 90 percent by end 2003, that is about less than two-and-a-half years from now. We believe this will encourage businessmen and citizens to interact with the Government on the Internet to speed up the e-government program." The ESD Scheme was formally launched in January this year. The government will continue to roll out more ESD applications such as booking of leisure and sports facilities, booking of marriage appointment and registration for sitting public examinations, Wong said. "We will actively drive e-procurement initiatives in order to encourage government suppliers to adopt e-business. We will also develop an electronic marketplace for government purchases." With the objective to speed up the implementation of the e- government projects, the Government would actively pursue the outsourcing strategy on the provision of IT services within the government, he said. The government will continue to pursue the outsourcing strategy not only on new government IT projects but also on the application maintenance activities currently performed in-house, Wong concluded. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |