Following the great success of the first ever international seminar on E-Government, co-sponsored by the Taiwan International and Cooperation Fund (Taiwan ICDF) and the Ministry of Technology of St. Kitts /Nevis on November 27, 2008, the public of this Federation should ponder how to benefit from it. The Taiwanese government has provided tremendous resources and devoted efforts to the Federation for advancing various E-Government projects. We hope that the Ministry of Technology will further promote the E-Government measures to the public since its resources and results belong to all the people, rather than government officials who get involved.””” E-Government has become a popular policy for most countries in the world in recent years, especially in smaller countries such as CARICOM members, which have no huge and complicated government structure. Nevertheless, during the panel discussion at the E-Government seminar, many participants, who are in charge of the information technology in their governments, voiced the difficulties and challenges faced when they pushed forward E-Government projects. In other words, digital-divide exists, not only in the private sector, but also in the government agencies. In fact, most countries believe e-government might be a solution, if not a panacea to inefficient bureaucracy. The underlying goal of e-government is to integrate all government agencies to create a “digital nervous system” through the Internet where communication and the exchange of information take place at a very high speed. Realization of e-government is to ensure, not only convenience for the public and quality of life enrichment for the citizen, but also simpler government services, greater administrative efficiency, and enhanced national competitiveness. Hence, it is essential to strengthening citizens’ interaction with government and to enhancing public participation. It is equally important for e-government to meet demands of the private business sector. According to the Taiwanese Residence Ambassador Rong Chuan Wu, it was in 2006 that Taiwan and St. Kitts and Nevis agreed to advance technological cooperation, i.e. information, communication and technology (ICT) projects. The Taiwanese helped establish the ICT Center as the headquarters for the E-Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. People in this Federation are able to get much easier access to government announcements and policy orientation documents through various ministries’ websites. Also, application systems, such as hospital information systems, are expected to bring convenience to hospital staff and to ensure the safety of the patients. It is anticipated that there will be ample business opportunities for the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) industries in St. Kitts and Nevis in the future. We suggest that the existing and future governmental portal sites will emphasize demand-driven accessibility, so that their design meets the need of the general public. While the ICT Centre is providing its facilities to both public and private sector entities for various education and training programs, it is also hoped that free educational programs are made available for less established groups of citizens so as to bridge the digital divide in this Federation and to ensure every citizen in the Federation has access to computer training and e-government service.
