The United Nations placed Uruguay among the most advanced countries in e-government, as it is the only Latin American state to reach this "elite" status. Thus, Uruguay receives another recognition in an area in which it has been reaping one achievement after another.
Although Uruguay is in the same position globally (34th) as in the last edition of the United Nations' biennial ranking, its score has improved and surpassed the 0.75 threshold that separates the "good" from the "very good". Specifically, it went from 0.7237 to 0.7858 on a scale of 0 to 1.
Chile is the country in the region that comes closest to Uruguay, although it does not enter the elite group and is relegated to 42nd place in the world. It is followed by Argentina and Brazil, in that order.
The United Nations has been carrying out these performance measurements since 2001 and this time, in its tenth edition, it highlights Uruguay's digital agenda. It says that the country has a clear policy to achieve that 100% of the Central Administration's procedures can be done online from start to finish and that it is enough to interact with the State through a single login.
Although they may sound abstract, advances in digitalisation have a direct impact on citizens, said José Clastornik, director of the e-Government Agency (Agesic). "The United Nations is insisting on the availability of data to make decisions, on eliminating bureaucracy, on cybersecurity, on smart cities," he told El País. All of these are "elements that affect the quality of life", he said.
Clastornik, who learned of the results in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he is attending the international conference on open government, exemplified the impact: "Police reporting can be as simple as filling out an online form about where a traffic accident occurred. "But if we dig a little deeper, that report can interact with the fleet of vehicles; it can require an electronic signature of the complainant; the georeferencing can be known; a heat map can be made of where the most accidents occur; it can be known if the cars are insured or if they have had previous fines; information can be given to the medical services that are going to assist or to the Prosecutor's Office before a trial," he added. Everything is in databases for decision-making or for academia and civil society - such as the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez - to make their analyses.
The United Nations is asking its member states to use technology and geo-referenced information to prevent the impact of climate crises or to provide personalised attention to their populations. Uruguay today has one of the fastest and widest internet connections (there is almost no difference by socio-economic level) and this can contribute to "democratising information".
Denmark, which was ranked ninth, now holds the top spot in the ranking and according to the United Nations is the country that is standing out the most. Why? It established digital interaction with government by law. And it was the leader in the creation of digital embassies, a field in which Uruguay wants to make inroads. "This allows you to re-secure your digital information by depositing it in the "territory" of another country (this is the case of Estonia in the face of the threat of cyber attacks from Russia)," Clastornik explained.
The Uruguayan authorities estimate that the next edition will see "a greater improvement", because there are projects underway and the country is now part of the D7 - the group of the seven most digitised states.
Source: El País
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