During 28 September - 4 October 2008, UNDP ICTP project organized a study tour for government officials on e-government and government portal development experience in Switzerland as part of a continued commitment to the promotion and implementation of e-government in Uzbekistan, the project said on 13 October.

The study tour was organized in close cooperation with the e-Government section of Federal Chancellery of Switzerland, directly involved in development and implementation of national e-government strategy.

During the study tour the delegation from Uzbekistan, comprised of representatives of Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of Economy, UZINFOCOM Computerization and Information Technologies Developing Center and ICTP project, visited key organizations and institutions involved in e-government development in Switzerland (Federal Chancellery, Town of Biel-Bienne, CTI Geneva, Federal Office of Communications, Federal Strategy Unit for IT, Federal Justice Office, Federal Archives, Bedag) operating and implementing e-government initiatives in Switzerland at both federal and canton levels that allowed to explore the e-government in Switzerland from different perspectives. The experts of visited organizations did an excellent job explaining respective areas of specialization and engaging the members of delegation, who had an excellent exposure to insights of planning and setting up the e-government in Switzerland.

The particular thematic areas covered during the presentations, practical demonstrations and discussions included:

• Swiss e-government strategy and its implications;
• Financial, technical (standards, platforms, systems, software applications, modules, etc.) and organizational issues associated with development and maintenance of Swiss Government Portal (www.ch.ch), implementation of G2G, G2B and G2C services on Swiss Portal;
• Local authority software solutions enabling provision of e-government services in Biel;
• Activities of Center for Information Technologies responsible for ICT support of all government institutions in Canton of Genève.
• Program “The Administration online” of Canton of Genève.
• Electronic Signature and its development and implications in Switzerland
• Activities of Federal Office of Communications
• Various e-government projects and e-government solutions including Citizen Registration System, Parking Permit System, e-Licensing and e-Justice Projects
• Information Lifecycle Management at the Swiss Federal Archives

Currently, the Republic of Uzbekistan has established a legal framework and implemented some activities aimed at development and implementation of e-government; since 2003 the Government Internet portal of Uzbekistan (www.gov.uz) has been launched. Under the UZINFOCOM center of Communications and Information Agency of Uzbekistan, the special Gov.Uz group was established. However, still lots of work need to be done to make the portal fully people-centric, thus the issues associated with long-term development strategy and sustainability exist.

In this regards, it is expected that the study tour will establish the foundations for development and approval by the Government of Concept of further development and improvement of government portal, in particular, and e-government, in general. It is planned that Gov.uz portal development plans and content structure, including supporting technical (hardware and software) infrastructure will be revised, based on Swiss experience, to make it more user friendly and people-centric.

Overall, the study tour demonstrated that the Strategy of e-government development in Uzbekistan should be in place that would represent the government’s vision in the area and define priorities of e-government development. Moreover, there is a necessity to widen e-government educational and promotional campaigns targeting mainly government agencies, small and medium sized enterprises, educational establishments and citizens.

The use of commons standards (with emphasis on Open standards) and platforms for formation, storage and usage of information resources and information systems by government institutions is suggested as in important prerequisite towards e-government development in Uzbekistan. To enable this, the legal base should be further strengthened and properly implemented; the data exchange mechanisms between different government institutions should be further strengthened.

Of course, all above mentioned tasks and activities should be supported, first of all, by activities towards universal computerization of the country and rising of computer literacy, especially in the rural areas. The ICT infrastructure at all levels should be further developed enabling wide access (through reduction of tariffs, increase in number of public access points, increase in broadband connectivity) to the Internet and its services.

E-government study tour enabled to launch direct contacts with Swiss experts in e-government field, in particular, and in ICT field, in general, and to get acquainted with the current status and challenges of e-government implementation in Switzerland. Although it is clear that every country has to work out its own model of e-government introduction and implementation, the extensive experience of Switzerland can be used to avoid possible risks and challenges. ICTP supported government delegates were able to explore and learn the best practices and to explore areas of further cooperation in the field.