The delegation of Uzbekistan included officials of the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications, Electronic Government Development Center and Mirzo Ulugbek Innovation Center.

The study tour was organized within he joint project of the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan and the UNDP “Public Administration Reforms and Digital Transformation” and execution of the memorandum of understanding between Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE).

The visit is aimed at establishing efficient cooperation with the SCE, studying advanced experience of Singapore in development of electronic government and its elements, including system of smart and safe cities, national geoinformation system, systems of management of information and business analytics, electronic commerce and technoparks.

Singapore is one of the leaders on providing electronic services for population and businesses. In 2005-2016, state bodies of Singapore started to provide electronic services. During 2005-2009, over 1,600 public services were transferred to electronic formats, which is about 80% of all public services. Currently, the country is building “Digital Government” system. Within the system, the citizens of the country should have opportunity to receive digital public services anywhere and anytime. The system allows to make state decisions in one single platform, which is integrated to activities of all institutions and ensures communication with the citizens.

Singapore pays great attention to development of agile public services, which means that the state bodies develop and introduce public services as fast as possible. Of course, training and research are one of the important components in creation of the Digital Government system.

The Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL) at National University of Singapore –Institute of Systems Science (NUS ISS) provides assistance in strengthening capacity, consulting and applied researches.

During development of demanded digital public services, special attention is paid to design thinking and behavioral preferences of the user of the service. Students of the e-Government Leadership Center are learning this and other topics.

During the visit, the delegation of Uzbekistan held a meeting and negotiations with management and representatives of the SCE, GovTech, NUS ISS / eGL, KDi Asia Pte. Ltd, Ecquaria, vCargo Cloud, SMRT, ST Electronics, NCS and Surbana Jurong.

The Uzbek delegation also met with representatives of Nanyang Technological University, the Council of Jurong city, the Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore, the Singapore Land Transport Authority and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

During the meetings, the Uzbek officials familiarized themselves with main stages of development of electronic and digital government, creation of smart-cities. The sides also discussed experience of Singapore in training of IT-specialists and introduction of innovations to electronic public services.

The sides also considered issues of ensuring cyber-security of IT-infrastructure and protecting data and information services, as well as implementing safe city project.

Within the visit, representatives of Uzbekistan got acquainted with innovative projects, which are developed and introduced in Singapore.

In particular, the Uzbek officials familiarized themselves with the project on organization of urban unmanned buses in Nanyang Technological University, which is implemented in cooperation with the Dutch company 2 Get There. Unmanned buses are currently tested at the Changi International Airport.

Member of the delegation of Uzbekistan and Deputy Director on Business Development of Mirzo Ulugbek Innovation Center Bakhodir Ayupov commented: “Leadership of Uzbekistan is paying great attention to developing IT-market and public electronic services. Singapore holds the fourth place in UN Electronic Government ranking after Great Britain, Australia and South Korea. Currently, share of ICT sector in Singapore’s GDP makes up 9-11%.”

“The visit helped us to learn the best practices of Singapore in developing information technologies, creating smart and safe cities, as well as ensuring security of IT-infrastructure. Learnt lesson will help us efficiently organize our work in creating electronic government and implementation of projects on digital transformation,” he said.

“The visit showed that we should establish cooperation with Singaporean organizations and companies for deeper learning their experience and training,” Bakhodir Ayupov added. As a result of the visit, the delegation of Uzbekistan will develop recommendations for their organizations on reengineering business processes and improving their activities on providing public services to population and businesses.