CLOSING SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE HON. AUSTIN GATT, MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, AT "ATTAINING eMALTA ? PUSHING BACK THE FRONTIERS" A CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY MITTS, ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY.

Mr Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This conference, on the occasion of the 10^th Anniversary of the founding of MITTS, is being held at a crucial time when Malta is starting down the road of harnessing the power of IT to serve its citizens.

In the short space of twenty-four months, my Government has:

• Approved an Information Systems Strategic Plan establishing the policy parameters and direction which will govern IT expansion within Government;

• Set up the Central Information Management Unit which – although still much has to be done – will champion IT within Government and which will also own the eGovernment project;

• Following the publication of a White Paper, published two bills which provide the legislative framework for the building of a Maltese eSociety – the bill on eCommerce has in fact passed the Second Reading and is now in the Committee stage, whereas the Data Protection Act is currently being discussed;

• Published a White Paper expressing Government's vision and strategy for eGovernment, the most relevant point of which is the belief that eGovernment cannot be divorced from the building of an integrated eSociety in Malta;

• Taken the necessary legislative steps to ensure that the telecommunications sector is liberalised, which in turn should bring down costs for communicating – an essential ingredient if we are to have eSociety;

• Taken the first tentative steps down the eGovernment road with the launching of an integrated Local Enforcement System and a Rents Payment System – hopefully to be followed next year by a Customer Care System and a Trade Licensing System.

All these systems put the client rather than the government department at the centre of the development.

These are large steps down a very long road. Our policy vision is clear and our strategy mapped out. We know the road we have to take and we know as well that we cannot walk it alone.

If Malta is to be successful in creating a Maltese eSociety, Government and private enterprise have to join forces to create the necessary critical mass to make the change happen.

This vision would not have been possible without the investment which my Government has made in these last ten years and, more than this, without my Government's firm commitment throughout these last thirteen years to constantly upgrade our IT infrastructure and encourage the use of IT in Maltese society.

We are not a Government which puts the present eRevolution on the same level as the invention of the brigantine in the 16^th century as the leader of the opposition did in the recent debate on eCommerce.

We believe that not only must we create an eSociety because otherwise the world will pass us by, but we believe that what is happening provides – together with EU membership – a golden opportunity to the Maltese to shake off the restrictions of size and geography. Today's revolution is based on know how, expertise and vision.

Investment and strategic partnerships are there for the taking by the knowledgeable and if there is anything that we Maltese have always excelled in, is our capability of absorbing new processes coming from abroad and excelling in their use.

The reality that MITTS itself is constantly facing poaching, not only by the Maltese private sector, but also by household name multi-nationals is a clear example of this home truth.

Obviously these are pitfalls along the road, pitfalls which I believe are essentially cultural rather than technical:

• in an eGovernment environment, Government does not have the luxury of postponing decision-making. The evolution of IT, systems development and services delivery is changing so fast and independently of what we do in Malta, that Government has to pro-actively promote decision-making in both the policy and the systems field;

• Government cannot permit departmental agendas to take over the national agenda. Departmental monoliths in both decision making and system development have to be dismembered to favour cross-department process. This means that departments have to move to strict delivery times and keep their focus on the citizen rather than on their needs;

• eGovernment will not be successful if before putting in the systems we do not re-engineer Government back room processes and re-train public officers inculcating in them a pro-active sense of customer care;

• Maltese eSociety will never take off unless we have a sustainable policy of IT education in schools at all levels and unless we are able to produce the necessary number of IT technicians to sustain our development;

• Government and the private sector have to learn to trust each other and work together. The challenge we face is bigger than us both and unless we invest together, we will fail together;

• The private sector has to bury – at least in this area – its individual interest and join together to bring forward the national interest. The challenge is not how much contracts each firm will win. The challenge is a Maltese eSociety built and sustained by us all against an eSociety dominated by foreign firms. The private sector needs to attain a vision beyond the narrow scope of its individual firms' commercial interest.

I firmly believe that eMalta can be built – not by magic but with hard work and a clear vision and strategy. I am sure that this Conference has helped in defining better our vision and strategy.

We are ready to roll up our sleeves and my invitation goes to the private sector to join us and do the same.

Together we can build eMalta.

Thank-you.