Online Government ECUADOR Herlinda Sabando comercio8micip.gov.ec Carlos Vera Quintana Public FTAA.ecom/inf/141/Add.1 June 4, 2002 Original: Spanish Translation: FTAA Secretariat

What we expect... Transparency Efficiency Management Opportunities Flexibility Integration Security User friendliness Effectiveness Democratization Wide access Coverage Information Know-how Simplification Governance

How Ecuador defines e-government Public policy processes, communication, and full interaction between the government and the public, using secure ICT to protect privacy.

VISION Ecuador and e-government To become an integrated, efficient and competitive country, both regionally and internationally, able to ensure that the entire population has democratic access to the benefits of an information society and the knowledge it generates.

Mission To provide services to citizens and allow them to participate in the development thereof through electronic government.

Progress Legislation in force: laws, rules, and regulations Agendas in process: competitiveness and connectivity; business forum and civil society; nationwide participation.

Ecuador encourages... Andean harmonization. Ecuador has participated in Andean meetings promoted by CAN and CAF and the ITU Cooperation Project. Upgrading and widening public access to government processes and services.

Current situation Participatory implementaion of Agendas for Competitiveness and Connectivity, defining joint public/private sector working groups. The development of these programs encompasses the definition of policies, objectives, timetables, and work budgets.

Connectivity Agenda: its Pillars Cornerstones of Ecuador’s connectivity agenda: Electronic Government Electronic Commerce Health Education

Parallel Action... Developing access infrastructure so as to ensure availability and reasonable costs for the public.

Problems that Ecuador faces: a private-sector perspective Low level of insertion in ICT and Internet The process of building public policy must be continued. The government must promote the development of base legislation needed for implementing electronic government.

Problems... Lack of incentive policies (public and private). Lack of a promotion and dissemination policy, which creates problems due to the absence of an information culture and dearth of ICT training. Access, education, and training for the public sector in ICT use and applications.

Follow-up actions and recommendations Effective technology transfer management. No turn-key projects. Define electronic government processes and services (taxes, government procurement, information, interaction using electronic media) as priority and foster support for them.

Follow-up actions and recommendations What being online is all about: Being online means really moving forward and adopting a new approach to government services, a new service mentality in which we are not just subscribers who benefit from or have access to a service, but rather customers who are able to make demands and reorient government services.

Positive Experiences CAE SRI – Automobile registration CONATEL: CAMIS 500 infocenters MOP-MICIP-Petroecuador-Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Energy BANRED Central Bank CORPECE--Registration agency for issuing electronic signatures and electronic signature certificates.