Giving details about the US$23 million project, Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, said that the project was focusing on assisting the Trade Board and Fiscal Services Limited to purchase computer equipment and relevant software.

WEB-ENABLING GOV'T SYSTEMS

The Minister who was making his contribution to the 2004/05 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Wednesday, May 12, said that both the Trade Board and Fiscal Services Limited were critical to the implementation of the e-Government initiatives. "This US$6.9 million component of the project integrates and web-enables the systems of government agencies to remove duplication and reduce the number of places citizens have to go to transact business," he said.

Mr. Paulwell said that the Trade Board had also been mandated to develop a Government Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to secure electronic service delivery by government ministries and agencies as well as Jamaican businesses.

"It will also facilitate electronic commerce over the Internet as well as inter and intra national trade," Minister Paulwell said.

Meanwhile, he said that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was providing technical assistance for establishing the PKI and that the Ministry would be spearheading the drafting of the e-transactions legislation as well as cyber-crimes legislation to provide the legal foundation for the use of the PKI and digital signatures.

He said that draft of the e-Transactions Bill was widely circulated for comments and these are now being incorporated into the document. "We expect to have this Bill presented to Parliament for debate shortly. I would like to invite Jamaicans to avail themselves of the opportunity to comment on the proposed cyber crimes legislation," he said.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040519/business/business8.html