Rural communities to benefit from e-commerce
As Government moves to strengthen local e-commerce, director of the e-commerce secretariat, Roger De Peiza, said plans must include other national issues.
De Peiza was speaking yesterday at the American Chamber’s monthly meeting. He said since the secretariat was set up in 1999, it has focused on making sure that rural communities share in the move towards e-commerce. An information and communications technology secretariat has been set up and will be ready to implement a plan in the next six months. That plan is supposed to form part of Government’s Vision 2020 plan. The plan will cover issues in five areas including infrastructure and legal issues.
De Peiza said Government has to deal with a number of issues outside of business over the Internet. One of these is allowing rural communities to take part in the advance of technology. How do they take part when they don’t even have telephones?” he said. The e-commerce secretariat has been working with other ministries and agencies to equip rural community centres with Internet access. He noted problems like crime and education and said Government needs to create an environment which will enable business to take place in a “positive and meaningful” way. De Peiza also said public sector is an essential part of the development of e-commerce. “Do we receive email and hide behind e-mail?” he asked. “We need to look at reforming the public sector to allow it to respond to the requests and demands from citizens.”
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"Rural communities to benefit from e-commerce"