EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY WELCOME REMARKS BY MS CHAN LAI FUNG PERMANENT SECRETARY (FINANCE

PERFORMANCE), MINISTRY OF FINANCE, AT iGOV GLOBAL FORUM, 14 JUNE 2010, SUNTEC SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE

Mr Peter Ho, Head of Civil Service, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1. It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to this iGov Global Forum 2010, jointly

organised by the Singapore Ministry of Finance and Infocomm Development Authority. The aim of this Forum is to facilitate the sharing of strategies and best practices in eGovernment. Last year, we launched the inaugural iGov Global Exchange which included a one-day forum much like today, a four-day exhibition which showcased successful e-Government projects; and site visits to selected Singapore government agencies and infocomm companies. Encouraged by the success of last years event, we have brought back the iGov Forum this year and the site visits which were very popular last year. We have left out the exhibition component this year as we feel it would be too soon to do another large-scale exhibition after last years event. But we hope to bring it back in subsequent editions of the iGov Global Exchange. We are very pleased that this years event continues to enjoy strong support, and we have more than 300 participants from 28 countries here with us today.

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The theme for this iGov Global Forum is: e-Government: The Next Quantum

Leap. We have chosen this theme as we believe that the next phase of e-government is likely to go beyond mere incremental innovation that is enabled by technology. Powered by advanced technological tools and driven by demand from an increasingly technology-savvy generation, we believe that we may witness disruptive innovations that could bring about radical changes to the new e-Government landscape. 3. This morning, we are honoured to have Singapores Head of Civil Service, Mr

Peter Ho, share his thoughts on the challenges facing the public sector today and how technology features in addressing these challenges. I believe that he will also be giving us a preview of the new Singapore IT Masterplan that is under development. 4. We are also privileged to have a distinguished list of international speakers

from government, academia and industry to share with us their insights on various topical issues. Professor Soumitra Dutta will speak on the topic of social collaboration and how it is transforming e-government; Dr Dave McClures will share with us the US governments initiatives in engaging citizens through the USA.gov public dialogue forum; Professor Toshio Obi will speak on the topic Public Sector Innovation through Collaboration amongst public, private and people sectors; and Mr Anders Henneberg, who will provide a perspective from a private sector service provider to the Danish government, on how business analytics can be applied effectively in public service. 5. This mornings forum will conclude with a presentation by Mr James Kang

from the Government Chief Information Office of the Singapore Infocomm Development Authority, who will outline Singapores strategies as we seek to push and challenge 2

ourselves to take e-Government in Singapore to the next level. After lunch, we will have four parallel tracks with more in-depth interactive discussions with the speakers and other subject matter experts. 6. I wish to thank our distinguished speakers, guests and delegates for making

the time to join us at this forum. To our overseas visitors, I wish you a very pleasant stay in Singapore. I also wish all delegates a very fruitful and productive conference.