Swiss launch e-government initiative
The Swiss could soon be benefiting from better government services over the internet, thanks to an initiative to develop e-government.
The project aims to cut down on bureaucracy and boost Switzerland’s e-government ranking compared with other European nations.
On Monday, a national project was launched to better coordinate the internet activities of Switzerland’s vast patchwork of cantons and communes, which are currently responsible for their own websites.
The economics minister, Joseph Deiss, said the initiative, eVanti.ch, would not only boost Switzerland’s image as an internet-savvy nation, but would also help ease collaboration between the government, cantons and communes at very little cost.
Deiss added that the standardisation and improvement of e-government services would ensure the smooth running of Switzerland’s federalist system and would lead to a cheaper, more user-friendly service.
The finance ministry, which is coordinating the project, said it planned to rapidly increase the number of services in a bid to cut down on bureaucratic paperwork, to the benefit of the population, the economy and of the government itself.
The news is likely to be welcomed by the Swiss who, in a study released in August, said they would like more public services to be available online.
Some 83 per cent of the 1,000 people surveyed said they would use the internet for everyday administrative tasks such as registering a change of address or searching for jobs.
Cyber image
During Monday’s launch, eVanti.ch organisers said the initiative was also designed to make Switzerland a more attractive place for investors and help it climb up e-government rankings.
Switzerland is currently languishing at number 15 out of 18 countries in European e-government rankings.
The finance ministry said it aimed to move the country up into the top third of the rankings by the end of 2005.
It plans to create an online databank of information relating to e-government, encouraging visitors to the site to put forward suggestions.
The ministry said it would also monitor Switzerland’s e-government progress more closely.
The Swiss government has already launched several projects in the domain of e-government, including the online administrative information portal, www.ch.ch, and has experimented with e-voting in canton Geneva.
swissinfo with agencies
The initiative aims to ease collaboration between all levels of government at a low cost.
The aim is to have a cheaper, more user friendly and better quality service.
The project also aims to boost the country’s e-government rankings, currently 15 out of 18 European countries.
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