Mr. Thomas Gass, ASG, UNDESA, Ambassador Janis Karklins, Chair, IGF and MAG, and Ms. Constance Bommelaer, Senior Director of Global Policy Partnerships, ISOC present to Ms. Elia Armstrong, OIC, DPADM and DPADM staff

Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, OIC, DPADM and Ms. Yu Jung Kim, Information Management Officer, DPADM met with a Malaysian delegation from Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC)

Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, OIC, DPADM and Ms. Adriana Alberti, Senior Governance and Public Administration Officer, DPADM met with Mr. Gazmend Turdiu, Deputy Secretary General Head of Programme Department, RCC

Mr. CHAN Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Information Officer and Assistant Chief Executive, GCIO, Mr. TAN Amos, Director, Strategy & Innovation Division, GCIO and Ms. KEE Karen Manager, Strategy & Innovation Division, GCIO present to Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, OIC, DPADM and DPADM Staff

A Japanese delegation visited DPADM to share Japan’s new IT strategy and the Government’s plan to promote cohesive e-government practices in delivering public services. With a new strategy and an action plan, the Government of Japan will focus on improvement of the back end systems in order to streamline the services and coordination between various ministries. It also plans to redesign the government websites and standardise the government domain for easier use. In the areas of open government data, the Government of Japan plans to collaborate closely with the private sector for content and app development. Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief of the e-Government Branch, congratulated Japan on its continued commitment to improve e-government services and shared global trend in whole-of-government and open government data in relations to the UN e-Government Survey 2014 findings.               

On 24 July 2014, DPADM invited Ms. Aparna Mehrotra, UN Women's Senior Adviser on Coordination and Focal Point for Women in the UN System and Ms. Monica Dyer, Interagency Coordination Specialist, to present the system-wide action plan for the implementation of the CEB policy on gender equality and empowerment of women (UN SWAP). The purpose of the Seminar was to brief DPADM staff about this unified accountability framework on which the UN system needs to continue collaborating as requested by ECOSOC in 2014. It was also about understanding whether DPADM could adopt the same framework to support United Nations Member States public sector institutions to strengthen their responsiveness and accountability in gender mainstreaming. Ms. Aparna Mehrotra welcomed DPADM’s collaboration with UN Women to recognize excellence and innovative practices in gender responsive delivery of public services through the UN Public Service Awards.   

As a follow-up to the Minister of Environment of Benin, HE Dr. Raphael Edou’s, participation at the Public Service Forum in 2013 held in Bahrain, the Minister requested a meeting with DPADM to discuss ways in which the Division could assist him in his new capacity as Minister of the Environment, with a portfolio of climate change, reforestation and protection of natural resources.  Minister Edou was joined by the U.N. Ambassador of Benin HE Jean-Francis R. Zinsou.  DPADM was represented by the Officer-in-Charge Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief of the Development Management Branch Ms. Elia Armstrong and Inter-Regional Adviser Mr. Richard Kerby. During the meeting that took place in the DPADM offices on 26/06/2014 the Minister provided a brief presentation of his new functions.  He noted his appreciation for participating at the 2013 Public Service Forum where he felt the importance of e-government for his country. The Ambassador spoke about the support that the Republic of Korea was providing Benin to develop a feasibility study on e-government. Mr. Aquaro spoke about the support that the e-Government Branch provides to Member States and noted that although Benin has not ranked that well in the past UN e-government surveys, there are real possibilities of enhancing Benin’s e-government readiness. Ms. Armstrong discussed the support that the Development Management Branch could provide Benin, especially in the areas of e-participation and financial reporting.  She mentioned that both mechanisms were vital in anti-corruption activities. Mr. Kerby shared what DESA is currently doing in Togo, a country with similar situation as Benin and a neighbour as well.  He also spoke on using citizens to assist the government in gathering data, especially in gathering environmental data.   

In the context of PACB/DPADM collaboration with the USC, a presentation on the above subject was organised on 30 May 2014. The presentation reflected on the finding of the research that a group of students led by Prof. Frank Zerunyan of the University of Southern California (USC) conducted at the request of DPADM.

The main purpose of the research was to understand how major urban centers have fared in developing environmental sustainability practices, especially how their responses differ from each other and whether successful practices can be transferable to other urban centers.

The research that was hinged on the comparative analysis of three major urban centers, i.e. Mumbai (India), Rio (Brasil) and Los Angeles (USA), focused on local-level implementation policies that aide achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1 (eliminate extreme poverty) and 7 (environmental sustainability) and that help inform the post 2015 development agenda.

At the request of the municipal government of the capital city of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, a delegation from the city government met with DPADM/UNDESA staff at the Division premises on 5 June 2014.

The objective of the delegation’s visit was to get information about best practices in the successful development and implementation of sustainable development policies, especially in the area of fighting poverty and exclusion. The delegation was also interested in learning approaches to further develop social inclusion measures and put them into practice – especially in the fields of youth employment, preventing early drop-out rates, improving access to services and supporting integrated approaches in tackling social disadvantage.

DPADM staff and the invited counterparts from DGG/UNDP and the University of Southern California (USC) shared various findings and experiences from the Division’s work, especially those coming from UNPSA winner countries in the field of the local authorities’ involvement in areas of interest to the delegation. Particular focus was put on practices that further the achievement of Millennium Development Goals and that help inform the post 2015 development agenda.

Mr. Sha expressed his appreciation to the delegation for the decision to host 2012 IGF and reassured them DESA through DPADM will provide all the necessary administrative and substantive support to the Government to ensure the success of the event and encouraged the Government of Azerbaijan to start working on the Host Country Agreement as soon as possible.

Mr. Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, updated Mr. Sha on the Trans-Eurasian Information Superhighway project (TASIM) that is set to further develop the knowledge-base economy and support the Information Society, and to increase connectivity and e-service for the promotion of industrial development and diversification of economy in the countries of Eurasian continent.  He welcomed Mr. Sha’s proposal and recommendation that the TASIM project could be presented during the Rio+20 global conference on sustainable development and that the delegation discuss it with the respective governmental and UN offices.  The Government of Azerbaijan will then continue its work on the preparation of the 2012 IGF and come back to DESA after the proposal on the TASIM project has been discussed with the relevant national agencies.

For more information about Tsinghua University and the special lecture sessions delivered by Ms. Qian, please click here.

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