Five leading digital governments, Korea, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Estonia, and Israel, will adopt the 'Digital-5 Busan Declaration' to bring about innovation in digital governments and narrow the digital gaps between governments on November 11 at Westin Chosun Hotel, Busan.

Digital-5, also known as D-5, was formed by the initiative of two leading digital governments, the United Kingdom which ranked first in the UN e-Government Survey 2016 and Korea, in September 2014. At the first Digital-5 Summit that took place in London in 2014, ministers signed the D-5 Charter which states the purpose of D-5, nine principles of digital development and operating methods.

At the second D-5 Summit held in Tallinn, Estonia in 2015, digital government leaders shared their own policies on e-Government and best practices, and agreed to conduct a joint research among member states.

Korea, the chair of the third D-5 Summit in 2016, proposed to adopt the Busan Declaration at the steering committee meeting in June in New Zealand. At the steering committee meeting held in September in Estonia, the five countries fleshed out the details of the declaration, and unanimously adopted the declaration at the third D-5 Summit.

The Busan Declaration is aimed at suggesting a vision and future direction for digital government and sharing best practices in order to open up a new era of digital innovation.

The main contents of the declaration are as follows.

(Future of the D5) Share best practices and innovative digital government policies as leading digital governments; identify methods to improve members' digital services and collaborate on common projects; support and champion growing digital economies; and bridge the digital gaps among countries

(Expansion of the D5) Open to expansion to include additional countries that are committed to meeting the nine principles* of the D5 Charter
* User Needs, Open Standards, Open Source, Open Market, Open Government, Connectivity, Teach Children to Code, Assisted Digital, Commitment to Share and Learn

Moreover, the Busan Declaration contains other provisions to work closely with stakeholders, including international organizations, the private sector, academia and civil society, as well as to share and publish key issues and best practice on digital government, which will be shared with non D-5 member states.

Minister of the Interior Hong Yun-sik said, "D-5 is a cadre of advanced digital governments that lead worldwide e-Government reform." "I believe D-5 will become the authoritative international gathering in the future though the implementation of the Busan Declaration," Minister Hong added.

In the meantime, Korea, along with the United Kingdom and New Zealand, ranks among the top ten leading governments in the UN e-Government Survey. Estonia boasts world-class telecommunication infrastructure like Skype while Israel is home to R&D centers of global ICT companies such as Google, Intel, IBM and Apple, giving full support to budding startups.