Maltese e-government showcased to Cypriot delegation

The Malta Information Technology Agency and Malta Government Technology Investments Ltd recently hosted a Cypriot delegation after they chose Malta as a best practice country in the implementation of e-government. During this two-day visit, MITA showcased a number of e-government services together with its vision for the future as the Maltese government's prime ICT agency.

During the various information sessions, the delegation from Paralimni Municipality and Larnaca District Development Agency were presented with information about the local ICT policies and standards and an overview of the e-government shared services and platforms. They also visited MITA's data centre and network operations centre. The visit was initiated through MGTIL which is currently participating in an EU-funded Interreg IVc project - Digital Cities (DC). This three-year project brings together municipalities of different maturity in ICT adoption to exchange information, know-how, experience and good practices.

The main objective of the DC project is to tackle the low rate of ICT penetration at local level by providing the organisational structures, strategies, policies and tools for enabling the rapid and sustainable adoption of ICT at local level and the development of digital cities in Europe.

During their visit, the Cypriot delegation explained how the central government and municipalities operate in Cyprus. They also exchanged information on their vision to start offering online services by the municipality for the benefit of both local and foreign citizens. The meeting switched to a brainstorming session in which MITA offered various suggestions of how Paralimni can attain their e-government vision, how to tackle barriers and exploit opportunities.

At the end of their stay, the delegation thanked MITA and MGTIL for their excellent joint collaboration in making this visit a success.