THE Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has once again come to the assistance of the government and people of Saint Lucia by donating EC$389,789 (US$145,000) towards the implementation of the Government Islandwide Network (GiNet) and the Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) projects.
Allocated for the GiNet Project is EC$80,646 (US$30,000), while the remainder, EC$309,143 (US$115,000) will be used for EDRMS.
Both of these projects are under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Government of Saint Lucia.
“My government has taken the initiative to assist with the GiNet Project. We are working on a free or low-cost wireless local area network (WLAN) in public areas, “Taiwanese Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Ray Hua-Wei Mou said. “Internet penetration will be enhanced, while government and enterprises will be motivated to provide a wide range of innovative applications on this public Internet infrastructure.”
The EDRMS primarily includes e-document authoring, online handling and approval, exchange, filing and archive sub-systems. The aim of this system is to allow the Government of Saint Lucia to create, process, and manage documents and records electronically.
Technicians have already completed the second phase of training in the use of the system, and are now at phase three – the development of archives module. Archiving will help reduce the time it takes to process documents; improve the organization’s internal and external communication efficiency; and reduce the risk of critical information loss. The archive module will also support the government’s records and information management, and compliance with e-laws regulations.
“I would like to wish the GiNet team success as they embark on the consultancy phase, and the EDRMS team on the third phase. I believe that through the joint effort of the technical personnel from Taiwan and Saint Lucia, these two projects will establish a solid foundation for the ICT development in Saint Lucia,” . Mou added.
Minister for the Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy Science and Technology, Senator James Fletcher, expressed gratitude to Ambassador Mou, and outlined the many ICT-related projects which have been successfully implemented as a result of financial assistance from the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).