Your Excellency, Kanysh Tuleushin, First Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today marks the last in a series of important meetings we have held in the CIS region. If I can summarize the atmosphere I have felt during the past two days which we spent together in Astana, it is unity of purpose, focus, and shared vision. I am sure that today’s Regional Forum on Digital Government will give us an opportunity to continue with the same momentum which is forward-looking and results-driven as we explore specific Gov-Stack opportunities.
Let me reiterate my gratitude and congratulations to the Government of Kazakhstan and to Minister Mussin, for championing and shining the digital torch across the region. Kazakhstan has over 33 digital documents in eGov mobile app
and over 1,200 different public services available online.
As such, Kazakhstan leads our GovStack programme through regional cooperation, by sharing good practices and promoting the reusability of different digital public goods to accelerate government services according to country needs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is through meetings such as this, that we enhance and strengthen international cooperation and partnerships. For us in the ITU Development Bureau, we are committed to implementing projects and activities that pave way for human-centric impact-oriented digital transformation.
One of our key initiatives in this regard is building digital government ecosystems – such as GovStack – which make government services more easily accessible to citizens. I am pleased that your governments are already benefiting from GovStack.
As you know, GovStack is community and multistakeholder driven. It builds a government technology stack that is constituted as a set of reusable building blocks for digitalizing any service. One of its features is the GovStack SandBox: an open demonstration environment for developers in government digital teams, startups, and systems integrators to learn about and evaluate the Building Block approach.
Current use case demonstrations are for Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs and Construction Permits. Four building blocks are ready to be re-used for Identity, Payments and Consent, and Information Mediator. I invite all of you to try these and start creating your own use cases.
Through one of our GovStack activities, notably the Women in GovTech Challenge, we train women in digital leadership, team management, and digital service design and delivery, using technical specifications.
I am proud to say that just two weeks ago, we witnessed the graduation of 139 women participants and mentors from 59 digital government teams. This was the 1st Cohort of the GovStack Women in GovTech Challenge.
I was humbled and very touched to hear the success story of one of these graduates, namely Larissa, country expert for Brazil. As part of the programme, Larissa created a use case in the State of Mato Grosso, which faced the challenge of over three million residents who had to submit all requests with a scanned copy of their electricity bills as proof of their addresses. This burdened the process. Larissa created a digital verification seal that linked the citizen’s address to their identity, thereby simplifying their lives.
Larissa has gone beyond the challenge and is voluntarily working with ITU on integrating this use case in Brazil in real life. She is the embodiment of the impact we can have on the ground with programmes like Women in GovTech Challenge.
Distinguished Participants,
I understand that you come from all walks of life in terms of the digital ecosystem. Diversity is what makes a difference. Change happens when stakeholders work together. When public actors are in the same room with private-sector partners that are interested to contribute their capacity, resources, experience, or digital public goods, then change happens. If, on top of this, these stakeholders are also joined by international organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union, that are ready to facilitate or put ideas into action, then we are one step closer to making a difference in people’s lives.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
That one step could be here and now. Let me be concrete.
It was only a few months ago, in October 2023, that together with Kazakhstan, we launched the Regional Cooperation under GovStack Initiative. We have since held several expert meetings to identify the demand from your side and to match it with expertise from the ITU.
Just yesterday, at the Regional Development Forum, we announced our new partnership with the National Information
Technology (NITEC) JSC and Eurasian Development Bank to support the implementation of GovStack for the region. This is progress.
Dear Friends,
These are but a few of the exciting initiatives we are jointly working on bringing impact on the ground.
I am sure that you and my ITU colleagues working in this region will elaborate on GovStack in a much more comprehensive way in the next two days.
Finally, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at headquarters, or through our Regional Director, Ms. Natalia Mochu, who is based in Moscow. We are open to ideas and partnerships. Together, we ought to succeed!
