Governments across Asia Pacific region are launching ambitious e-government initiatives. They are using information technologies to transform government operations in order to achieve a more effective, responsive, and transparent government, said Gary Fung, managing director of the International Data Group (IDG) World Expo (Asia) Ltd., the organizer of the summit.

IDG report illustrates that spending on e-government initiatives will claim a growing portion of public sector's IT spending in the years ahead. E-government has become a key priority for many governments.

With regards to the end-users adoption, research showed that the percentage of population who use online government services are also growing steadily in Asia Pacific, with Singapore ranking the highest online user rate, followed by Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, according to Fung.

However, many experts suggest that governments in Asia are still in the primary stages of e-government, where they have a narrow focus on providing electronic services and achieving agency-by-agency operational efficiency without fully considering the benefits they can achieve by approaching it as an e-business transformation.

This conference is an excellent opportunity for participants to hear from industry leaders and share their effective tools, knowledge and strategies to dramatically improve public services and reduce costs in the information age, said Fung.

The two-day summit will offer 10 keynotes and 19 general sessions for top technical minds from all level of government and the private sector.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2003)