Within the framework of the Green Standards Week held this week in Montevideo (Uruguay), the XVII Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities took place, in which the Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET) with the support of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) recognized the cities of Medellin (Colombia), Central de Paraguay, Salta (Argentina) and Miraflores (Peru) for their initiatives in the use of ICT to improve the quality of life of their citizens.
Montevideo, 8 September 2016. This week in Montevideo is taking place the international debate on the road to smarter and more sustainable cities. The Uruguayan capital hosted the awards ceremony for the four cities that presented the most innovative proposals in the areas of ICTs and Security, Digital Literacy, Citizen Participation, and Open Government. The ITU, ASIET, CAF, ECLAC and the Municipality of Montevideo organized this event.
Medellín (Colombia) was the winner in the category of Citizen Security for its Online Security project. In this regard, Andrés Felipe Preciado Restrepo, Operational Undersecretary of Security of the Mayor's Office of the Colombian city commented: "we are very happy for this award that our project received from ASIET, because it ratifies a commitment of the City, and not only of the Government, in relation to expanding the mechanisms of citizen complaints". On the award-winning work, he stressed that "Online Security managed to bring people closer to the possibility of reporting both anonymously and criminally and that was very important for us to the extent that it allowed us a much more accurate approach to the facts that were afflicting the safety of citizens and also to know the real victimization of the city".
In the Digital Literacy section, Central de Paraguay was distinguished for its good practices with the Central Trilingual project. Blas Lanzoni, Governor of Central recalled that "in the Republic of Paraguay, we have two official languages: Spanish and Guarani. In the Governor's Office of the Central Department we are carrying out a project called "Central Trilingual", which allows us to teach English through an interactive platform that allows more than a thousand students at the secondary level to have the possibility of learning a language that allows us to connect with the world". The governor wanted to convey the "thanks to ASIET for this recognition that motivates us and forces us to continue betting heavily on the use of technology in education. A tool that allows us to reach all social strata without there being excluded and everyone has the opportunity.
For its part, Salta (Argentina) was the winning municipality in the Open Government category for the Salta Activa project. "This international recognition is a source of pride for the people of Salta and an example of how, in a short time, working as a team and with efficiency, technology can be applied to bring governments closer to the people and generate spaces for participation, improving the quality of service to residents. This is what modernization is all about," said Gustavo Saenz, Mayor of the City.
The Peruvian municipality of Miraflores was awarded in the field of Citizen Participation with its initiative "Miraflores 2.0: System of attention to the neighbor through the Internet. Jorge Muñoz Wells, Mayor of the municipality, mentioned that "we deeply appreciate the recognition of ASIET for our project- This project, he said, "has allowed us to position ourselves as a pioneer district in the intelligent management of the municipal administration in Peru, through the use of digital tools for continuous improvement and the generation of public value".
The XVII Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities is being held in Montevideo within the framework of the Green Standards Week, co-organized by ITU, CAF, ECLAC, ASIET and the Municipality of Montevideo.
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