National Stakeholders' Workshop on "Modernization of Nepal through the development of ICT and e-Governance"

Three days long National Stakeholders' Workshop on "Modernization of Nepal through the development of ICT and e-Governance started today in Kathmandu at Hyatt Regency Hotel. The workshop is jointly organized by High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Subash Nembang, Speaker of the House of Representatives inaugurated the event and expressed the urgency of e-Governance implementation in Nepal. Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Mahanta Thakur also delivered short speech and wished the success of the event. Dr. Madan Pariyar welcomed the audience of about 250 participants from government agencies, private business, media, NGOs, INGOs, professionals and guests from India, Korea and representatives from ADB. He elaborated the purpose of the workshop and put forward the objectives of the workshop.

Dr. Dong Soo Pyo, the Financial Specialist from ADB, elaborated about the ICT development and e-Government Implementation investment plan preparation technical assistance to Nepal. On the same event, President of AIT also talked about the ICT for development. Vice Chairman of HLCIT, Mr. Saroj Devkota chaired the Session.

In the Second session of the event, Dr. Paul Schapper made presentation on "Modernization of Nepal" and also ADB e-Governance Investment Preparation Project objectives and its status so far. Mr. J. Satyanarayan, CEO of National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) India and Dr. Choi from Korea shared India and Korea experiences. Dr. Hynnjung Lee ICT Specialist from ADB made a presentation on "ADB assistance in ICT4D toward E-Asia". Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, Full-time member of HLCIT also presented a paper on "Challenges for the the implementation of e-Gov and eGMP in Nepal".

Third session was about the E-Government Initiations in Nepal. Dr. Subarna Shakya, Executive Director of National Information Technology Center (NITC) presented a SWOT analysis of e-Governance Development in Nepal. e-Champions from different government agencies presented the e-government initiations in their agencies. Mr. Baldeb Prasad Joshi presented about the E-approval system as Electronic Government Operation System developed by Ministry of General Administration. Mr. Achyut Poudel discussed about the successful implementation of e-Post system in General Post office. Mr. Prem Lamichhane presented about the E-Application for the Department of Cottage and Small Scale Industries (DoCSI). Secretary of Prime Minister's Office of Nepal, Mr. Dipendra Dhakal had chaired the session. He pointed out the necessity of change of mind set of top level bureaucrats.

I will cover the second day proceedings tomorrow.

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