KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE HON. LOUIS GALEA, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, "CREATING NEW LEADERS FOR E-CULTURE" AT THE CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACADEMY

Introduction

Let me, first of all, say how pleased and honoured I am to be	with you this morning at this distinguished gathering. I am, indeed, grateful to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Kingdom Telecommunication Academy (UKTA) and Cable & Wireless (C&W) for according me the opportunity to present my views on a topic which is rapidly assuming universal fundamental importance. I sincerely congratulate them all for having taken an initiative that blends perfectly with the emerging trends in the area of telecommunications.
The kind words expressed by the Honourable Mr Ben	Bradshaw, Minister of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and by Mr David Mellor, the President of the Cable & Wireless Virtual Academy, in regard to Malta, strengthen the view that size is no more the determining factor for those developing countries who are determined to foster success through their proper niche in today’s global village.
How appropriate and inspiring was the message by the	ITU’s Director of the Bureau for Telecommunication Development. Mr Hamadoun Toure, alongside with the then newly elected Secretary General, Mr Yohio Utsumi, on taking up their positions following the ITU’s 1998 Minneapolis Plenipotentiary Conference, have strived to promote the Development sector in a remarkable way with vigour and effectiveness. Indeed their drive to offer a platform for partnership in the telecommunications development sector is reaping dividends, even now that the work of the Union is becoming increasingly complex and the time available for devising adequate solutions is shrinking.
When Mr David Mellor came to see me at my office a	few days ago, he suggested that it would be useful for your discussions if I were to share with you some reflections on how we see the e-Governance of a small developing country like Malta and what we have managed to achieve so far.
I propose, therefore, first to share with you some	remarks of a general nature, and then to give abrief overview of the policies and strategies we are adopting in the fields of e-Learning, e-Health, e-Commerce, and e-Government.

The vision for Malta

Early in the eighties, the Maltese leader Eddie

Fenech Adami, now Prime Minister for most of the last fifteen years, had already recognised that Information Technology is a ‘powerful tool’ for attaining ‘efficient service’ and for providing an "on-line government service to people within their own homes and in the community". As soon as he won the 1987 elections, the country was networked with the most modern state-of-the-art digital telecommunications system. Then in the early nineties the Prime Minister enshrined his vision in the Government’s National Strategy for Information Technology for Malta. What we have implemented over the past decade has provided us with a consistent, coherent, and convergent IT architecture and infrastructure. This IT architecture and infrastructure, which saw one of the most massive investments ever, places the Government in a very strong position to attain Information Age Governance.

Over the past three years, the Malta Government has

intensified its commitment and embarked on a number of further initiatives directed to establish the appropriate framework within which full e-Government could be attained. A number of these initiatives consolidate past policy directions – others seek to refine and to introduce new thrusts and strategic orientations in the light of cutting-edge developments.

Universal Community Service

I am sure that the points of the Valletta Action Plan are as well known to the professionals attending this Conference as are the basic facts underlying the digital divide. The sad fact is that the majority of the six billion people who inhabit our planet have been completely shut out of the digital revolution and the promises that it holds. Access to the Internet at home was one of the principal indicators used to measure the extent of the digital divide and the statistics were shocking: 90% of the C and D sectors in European society risked becoming have-nots through their lack of easy access to the information super-highway. How can telecommunications be used to usher in e-Culture, especially in those areas where the most basic of e’s – electricity - is still missing?

Political leaders in Europe have recognised the problem of the digital divide since at least the first half of the nineties. Indeed, following up research commenced in 1994, the Media and Mass Communications Ministers of the (then) forty member states of the Council of Europe had launched the concept of Universal Community Service at their Thessaloniki Conference in December 1997.

Many European states have since rushed in with corrective measures. The diversity of these efforts became apparent during the first European conference on Universal Community Service jointly organized by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Education in Malta in November 1999.

This conference on Universal Community Service followed the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference also held in Malta during 1998, which produced the so-called Valletta Action Plan. It is interesting to note that four of the six points of the Valletta Action Plan were subsequently adopted by the G8 during the Okinawa summit when these world leaders drew up a charter on the global information society.

Characteristics of a healthy e-Society
In order to better understand what countries can do, first it is useful to spell out some fundamental objectives. Just what are the defining characteristics of a healthy e-Society? Also, what are the things that we wish to avoid? I would like at this stage to suggest five characteristics.

1. Universal Access to e-Tools – The first challenge is that of providing affordable access at the level of the local community. In this context a response that may perhaps be considered by the e-developed countries is to make satellite-based bandwith sharing possible – subsidise if necessary through special schemes – or developing countries thus ensuring infrastructure at local level.
2. Universal Access to Quality Content – The next step is to ensure that financial means and vested interests do not deprive the e-citizen of quality content. This is where the fundamental principles of Public Service Broadcasting come into play. The principles outlined in the 1994 Prague declaration are very relevant in this context.

1. Freedom of Information – The e-Cultureoffers the opportunity to give access at greatly reduced cost, thus removing one of the traditional barriers to transparency in government. The e-advanced can help transfer this know-how as part of an e-law scheme.
2. Privacy and Data Protection - One of the threats posed by e-Culture is that to the private life of the individual. The principles of the 1980 OECD Guidelines, the 1981 European Data Protection Convention and the EU Directive 46/95 also need to be transposed to the legal systems of the e-deprived lest they catch up on the technology but not on the legal safeguards. This could form part of an e-lawinitiative mentioned above.

1. Respect for Intellectual Property Rights – None of the above can progress properly unless there exists a healthy respect for intellectual property rights across the board in all countries.

Having shared with you some obvious but important remarks, I now propose to deal with a number of particular areas to give you an indication of how Malta is dealing with the fast evolving scenarios instigated by the e-Culture.

e-Learning

As a Minister responsible for education I cannot but	start with the e-Learning area.
In the midst of this fast process of change, academic	institutions are being urgently invited to assess whether their educational, training, and research programmes are in fact developing the right milieu for e-Cultures and e-Governance to take root and flourish. The key to the success of such initiatives is in education, training, and innovation as much as it is in the raw deployment of technology.
In Malta we believe we are addressing the various	issues involved within the framework of a comprehensive review of our education system and institutions at all levels. We are convinced that we can only and truly bridge the digital divide by going back to basics – ensure that absolutely no child lacks the basic literacy, numeracy and ICT skills by the time one ends Primary School. The five year – 2000-2005 – Strategic Plan which my Government adopted to implement the new National Curriculum entitled Creating the Future Together is premised on the recognition that the world of the new millennium is characterised by continuous and rapid change evolving our society into a humane intelligent society.

Designing Tomorrow’s Education

The initiative to integrate Information Technology in Education was triggered in response to the Government’s 1994 publication, National Strategy for Information Technology for Malta.

Since then, the Government of Malta has provided significant financial resources through the Education Division for the implementation of IT in schools. Malta has, so far invested more than 7 million Malta Liri (15 million EUR).

Primary Education (Ages 6-11)

By October 2001, each primary class across the country will be equipped with a minimum of 4 multimedia computers, appropriate educational software, a display monitor, a video recorder, and a printer. All primary school teachers would also have been supplied with a laptop computer. The pupil to computer ratio in primary schools is 7:1, which places Malta at the forefront in Europe and the world with regards to IT facilities in primary schools.

Secondary Education (Ages 11-16)

In 1994, all secondary schools were equipped with computer laboratories. It has also been decided that as from next year, the IT Applications syllabus will be oriented towards the European Computer Driving Licence. As from 1998 subject teachers were being trained at the University to teach through ICT. As from the next scholastic year, Computer Studies is going to be introduced in all Secondary Schools. An effort is being made to improve the pupil to computer ration which at present is 20:1.

Tertiary and Vocational Sectors

Our 400 year-old University of Malta, with a tenth of	its student body made up of foreign students, provides a wide range of under-graduate and post-graduate courses related to computer and IT Science.
Moreover, as from this year the Government has opened	the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). The Information and Communication Technology Institute is offering various diplomas designed to equip students with the knowledge, understanding and practical skills required for a successful career in this dynamic sector.

The Internet in Schools project

The Government has embarked on a three-year project to provide a fast and efficient Internet connection in all schools in Malta. Every student is to be provided with an e-mail address and web-space to create his own website.

GTU – Maltacom Training College

The ITU Valletta Action Plan gave prime importance to	capacity building through Human Resources Management and Development, the objective of which is precisely to assist developing countries in building institutional and organisational capacity coupled with organisational development activities.
The Global Telecommunication University/Global	Telecommunication Training Institute (GTU/GTTI) is one of the pilot projects of the Human Resources Development Division of the ITU. It is based upon the use of Distance Learning methods and media to provide courses that can be delivered through a worldwide network of Nodes to telecommunications institutes in the developing countries.
It was only last March that this ITU’s Global	Telecommunication University and Training Institute had established its first inter-regional Node precisely on the island of Malta in partnership with Maltacom Training College. Malta is a pioneer in having established the first Node of the Global Telecommunication University. This was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Malta Dr Eddie Fenech Adami and the Secretary General of the ITU Mr. Yoshio Utsumi.
On the other hand the Maltacom Training College	entered into an agreement with Cable & Wireless and secured a worldwide exclusive right up to 2005 to organise the International Certificate and Diploma in Telecommunications programmes. Maltacom College has also secured exclusivity from Cable & Wireless in the provision of taught programmes for the continent of Africa for a period of five years.
Moreover, following the visit of Malta’s President	to the Peoples Republic of China last month, Cable & Wireless and Maltacom have explored how they can best assist with meeting the Chinese Premiers’ request for training. It has been agreed that the recently developed ICM will be used as a working programme to enable Chinese participants from the communications sector to spend a month in Malta during the third quarter of 2002.

e-Health

Having presented this brief overview of e-Learning in	Malta, I will now touch briefly on e-Health in Malta.
Malta has been cognisant of the dynamic revolution	generated by information technology in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health sector and the empowerment of the citizens to better their health through such technology. Our strategy is to establish a national telematics infrastructure that allows exchange of health information amongst primary and secondary health care providers. This will improve the service to our clients, whilst reducing duplication of investigations and resources.
Video-conferencing has already been piloted in Malta	whereby continuous educational programmes for family doctors held in the Malta Medical School were transmitted to our sister Island, Gozo, allowing Gozitan family doctors to benefit from such educational programmes. Discussions are underway between the Malta Institute to Health Care and the University of Bocconi in Milan (Italy) for video-conferencing transmission of course in health management between the two institutions.
The setting-up of websites that give information on	the availability of services will further enhance the timely access to health services whilst, possibly reducing the inappropriate use of our health services. Such a website is already accessible from our main acute general hospital. Other such websites are planned for other hospitals. Moreover, the new paradigm of e-health is one of the parameters within which the new Malta Hospital is being developed.

e-Commerce

Over the past twelve months Malta has witnessed an	increasing spate of activity embarked upon by leading technology and consultancy firms as well as constituted bodies directed towards creating an awareness amongst industry of the pervasive impact and of the ‘e-everything’ philosophy.
Our vision for the future is clear – Malta must	become an information economy. In undertaking this transition, we are insisting that Malta must adopt a macro driven approach as against a piecemeal approach. In this regard Government has established four fundamental principles which need to be in place to attain this goal.
The first is the introduction of a legislative	framework that balances trust, privacy, and security on the one hand, and personalisation of electronic services on the other. Malta today has on its statute books such a legislation for the regulation of e-Commerce – introduced only six months after similar legislation was introduced in the UK or Ireland.
The second fundamental principle is that of	ensuring that Malta has a predictable and stable regulatory framework that will enable the growth of e-Commerce.
The third fundamental principle which	underpins Government's Strategy for the new economy is the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector.
Government's strategy to accelerate the	liberalisation process from 2010 to 2003 is perhaps best vindicated by the coming onto the market of the second mobile telephony operator: ‘go Mobile'. We now expect the cost of interconnectivity in terms of bandwidth and accessibility to decrease. The recently established Malta Communications Authority has sufficient clout to ensure that this will be so.
The fourth, and final, principle is that the	attainment of the information economy is dependent, ultimately, on Malta becoming an information society.

e-Government

"After e-Commerce and e-Business the next Internet revolution will be e-Government" stated The Economist in its issue of the 24^th June 2001. More than a year ago, my colleague Minister Austin Gatt, Minister for Justice and Local Government, entrusted with spearheading e-Culture and e-Governance in Malta, devised an e-Government vision and strategy document. For the truth of the matter is that e-Society brings with it a new milieu of values, culture, behaviour, work patterns and organisational designs – with interactions within organisations and external to them changing beyond recognition. The real challenge is whether we are ready to change the way we do things.

We have adopted four fundamental principles to underpin the Government’s vision for e-Government.

Firstly, e-Government must translate in the provision of services electronically to individuals as well as businesses on a 24-hour by 7 days basis with easy access in terms of speed, entry points, affordability and points of entry.

Secondly, the provision of e-Government services must be inclusive – discriminating neither against persons with disabilities nor persons marginalised from society.

Thirdly, the cost of e-Government services to the users of those services must at worst be neutral and at best must realise financial savings in the provision of such services.

Finally, the provision of Government services must be provided in a way that guarantees privacy and integrity in its use.

I must underline that the successful attainment of e-Government is dependent on the establishment of a technology architectural framework that is cohesive, coherent and seamless.

The e-Malta Commission is the catalyst, the national office that owns the strategic direction for the transformation of Malta into an Information Society and Information Economy to ensure that all efforts are concerted, orchestrated and macro managed in order to build the appropriate critical mass that will render them sustainable as well as complementary to other related initiatives.

I believe that it is also crucial that this initiative be viewed as a public-private partnership where Government provides the policy direction, the legislative framework, the incentives and the leadership, and the private sector provides the knowhow and exploits the market opportunities.

In this respect, last March, my Government issued a request for a proposal for a strategic partnership for the e-Government initiative, who would be expected to help in the design, development, implementation and potential operation of e-Government in partnership with Government.

By the end of last May no less than 58 companies under the umbrella of 16 Consortia which included prestigious multinationals have expressed an interest in becoming the Government’s strategic partner for the e-Government initiative.

It is critical that prior to embarking on the attainment of e-Government the players concerned have a full understanding of e-Government principles and a clear strategy for the handling of the politics of change. The attainment of e-Government requires committed leadership, the mobilisation of the required resources and the attainment of that critical mass which is necessary to drive through what in essence constitutes a generational revolution. The Malta Government provides that leadership.

Conclusion

We have briefly appraised the evolution of telecommunications worldwide with more relevance to the development of e-governance in the small developing country Malta.

My country had already been congratulated by the Secretary General of the ITU when in 1992 it was the first country to have a 100% digital telecommunications service and notwithstanding its size it was eventually singled out as a role model for telecommunications development world-wide at the first World Telecommunication Development Conference held in Argentina in 1994. In that same year the World Telecommunications Development Report issued by the ITU declared that:

‘Malta had graduated into the ranks of the telecommunications developed economies. In the past it was a recipient of technical assistance but today it is in a position to be itself a provider of help.’

This brings me to my message, which I would like to convey to this Conference.

Let us keep in view that existing technologies can provide accelerated development of communications infrastructures. The advent of the Internet is very significant considering that it took the telephone nearly three-quarters of a century to reach 50 million users when the World Wide Web achieved the same feat in only four years.

The ITU is currently preparing to reform itself to survive and thrive by helping developing countries establish pro-market regulatory frameworks aimed at closing the digital divide. Developing countries, particularly those least developed, should do their utmost to present more realistic business cases to attract investment. It is a fact that there is considerable potential in telecommunications projects in least developed countries, provided that the regulatory infrastructure, clear network development strategies and strong dynamic plans are in place. It was in Uganda that a project had succeeded in attracting a total investment of USD 30 million and had broken even in a period of nine months. It is therefore the effective collaboration and shared approached by all stakeholders, most importantly the private sector that is central for the implementation of Telecommunications development programmes designed to ensure that new technologies reach all parts of the world.

It is against this background that we look forward for your meaningful deliberations, which should provide the necessary ingredients to turn challenges and visions into reality.

In closing, may I suggest, that in anticipation of the 2002 ITU’s World Telecommunication Development Conference in Turkey, the Plenipotentiary Conference in Morocco, and the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003, let this conference evaluate the international dialogue that is taking place which, in the main, touches on almost all aspects of our lives and propose world wide approaches (a global strategic plan might perhaps be considered at the 2003 World Summit) aimed at narrowing the digital divide and which the ITU will evaluate in consonance with its working methods

I wish you all an enjoyable and fruitful stay in Coventry.

Thank you for your attention and good luck.