"When it comes to electronic government, the sky is the limit," said Washington Gov. Gary Locke, urging the attendees of the conference to take risks and not be afraid to do things differently. "Electronic government is not a passing phase but, truly, the wave of the future."
The three-day conference included presentations by government leaders who are putting technology to use in daily operations, as well as forums on various public-policy issues pertaining to electronic government.
Vicente Fox, Mexico's president, addressed attendees via a videoconference.
Governments face challenges of interoperability, access to information, productivity, security and agency interaction and security as they move to deliver more and more services electronically.
As countries make the move toward electronic government, officials face different problems, representatives from countries said during their presentations at the conference. Delegates from the various countries presented updates throughout the conference on their governments' implementation of electronic government.
Developing countries, such as those in Latin America, are addressing the Digital Divide and building electronic infrastructure. More advanced countries that have already built at least some infrastructure are focusing on improving services by obtaining better software and IT systems.
