On February 20, Chung Yoon Kee, Director General of e-Government Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior, had a meeting with 13 Afghanistan delegates including Mr. Mohammad Reza Kateb, General Director for Planning and Policy Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior Affairs (MOIA), who visited Korea to learn about Korea’s experience and know how in building successful e-Government systems.

The Afghanistan delegation’s visit was promoted as part of the Cooperation Program between UNDP and MOIA on government reform of Afghanistan. Under the program, Korea was selected as a model case to benchmark the world-class e-Government systems.

At the meeting, the Afghanistan officials asked for technical support and long-term training opportunities in the areas of e-Government and expressed their strong will to forge a close partnership with the Korean government on e-Government.

Afghanistan, ranked 171st in UN e-Government Survey in 2016, has made wide-ranging efforts to improve government services such as modernizing government websites and building capacity of public officials. Korean companies including Yong Consulting, Hyundai Innobiz, Dongdo System and SPTECK have participated in 45 million dollars’ worth of national ID cards computerization project of Afghanistan.

As one of the largest foreign aid recipients in the world, Afghanistan’s foreign aid amounts to 4.8 billion dollars annually, most of which are provided as grants. And, 656 million dollars of funds are provided to support technological cooperation, so the Afghanistan government has actively put forward building e-Government and digital government.

During the visit in Korea, the Afghanistan officials will receive training on e-Government and go on study tours to relevant institutions. The delegation will learn about Korea’s resident registration system, Enterprise Architecture (EA), G-IDC and On-Nara BPS. Moreover, they will visit Future Healthcare Exhibition, Incheon Airport Immigration Office and Korea Public Finance Information Service to witness Korea’s advanced e-Government systems at firsthand.

Director General Chung commented that “the Ministry of the Interior will share our experience and know how on building e-Government to support a successful government reform of Afghanistan.” “I hope our bilateral cooperation on e-Government will be expanded and the global e-Government system will grow further,” he added.