Q: As Guanajuato's governor, what are your goals and can technology help you achieve those goals?
But before we can achieve this goal, we have five challenges to work on: economic development, social development, educational transformation, a law-abiding state and a good government. Among the priorities that the citizens have set to us, there's the need for an effective, talented, modern and technological government -- in short, a less-costly government that's capable of doing more, and here's where technology fully fits in.
I think the revolutionary changes we've seen in the last five years, in terms of information handling and communications, are really incredible. In Guanajuato, we have been intensively working on reinventing the government. Our first plan is to cut, by 40 percent, the size and the cost of government by the year 2000. These kinds of challenges are only possible with a technological revolution as our foundation.
A: I think that all of us are going forward in the use of technology with regard to the acquisition of equipment, but we are all not using it with the same efficiency, with the same talent, and above all, with the same political and philosophical principles that the use of technology supposes.
For example, the federal government, and other governments, have included a lot of technology and yet haven't reduced their operation costs. This 40 percent that I talk about represents really extraordinary figures that, instead of being spent for government operations, are invested in social programs. It is not just buying computers that is important; they have to be used efficiently.
Q: In different events and public speeches, you have talked about the state government's home page. What has been the response to the site?
A: An intense communication with the citizens. There are thousands of entries in the home page of Guanajuato state, so there are thousands of comments being made -- the suggestions, the critics, every single one of them is attended to. This is like putting a mailbox for complaints in a company. I think that we are being sent a lot of suggestions to improve the duties of the state government.
We are the only state in Mexico to have the public accounts in an Internet page -- income and outgo, month by month, every day. This information is dynamic, so all the citizens know what is happening today related to income and outgo.
All the programs related to society and the citizenry are also registered there. For example, we have the Alliance for the Country or the programs of Microcredit. They are all registered and the citizen can get to know who is getting the benefits of a program, so there is no doubt about the correctness of its application. The public work is also there. Information about what is being done in the state at any given moment -- drainage work, the construction of a well, a school, a street, a health center -- is loaded into the Internet.
What's the point? To gain the trust of the citizens by showing that resources are being used correctly. This is the end of all doubts about the optimal assignation
of public resources.
Q: Does the page have a direct e-mail for the governor?
A: Yes it does, it is called Write to Fox; it is where we get all the suggestions.
Q:Mexico's president doesn't have an e-mail account of this kind. Is this another valuable and innovative feature of the state's site?
A: Evidently, but the public account information is also. You can see the declaration of Vicente Fox on the Internet, and you can't see Zedillo's or any other public worker's. All that I'm saying here is that this is a unique situation in the state of Guanajuato.
Q: Do you rely on computers to complete your daily government activities?
A: I carry a small computer, a laptop -- by the way, I'm just learning how to use it. It is an Omnibook from Hewlett-Packard. It's very practical because it is very compact. It has Windows, of course, and it allows me to use mobile communications and see the information synthesis, which, before now, was made by the government in hard-copy form. We are finishing it, it is going to be published only electronically. It represents a monthly savings of 20,000 pesos. That's a concrete result of technology.
I also use the computer to follow up on government projects. This government is managed by projects, not only by programs. Each project has a person who is responsible. Each one has a budget, and a time limit to be completed, so I can check the advance of every project. It doesn't matter if it's education, public construction, health, exports or investments. I have all the information in the state network. That is the main task for which I use my laptop.
Q: For a long time, information technology has been used in the government for administration more than for critical applications. How is it done in Guanajuato?
A:We are using it to develop the government. For example, we have several planning exercises. One is called Guanajuato Century 21. We have the state projection, its advocacy, the analysis of its resources from today to the year 2020. We have a prospective study, where we can play with different scenarios about decisions that are being made in any subject. If we invest in education, what would be the impact in the state development? If we invest in attracting investors, what would be the impact? We have a simulation where we test all the decisions we make in the government.
We have a cartographic system, where we can see everything in detail, which improves the quality of decisions, not only the cost. The whole state information system is dedicated to improve the decision-making process. We are convinced that development, progress and prosperity don't come from the republic's president, the governor or the municipal president. They come from what every citizen does in his work each day of the year, on thousands of decisions in every area of the state. And good decisions depend on quality information.
Now, at this very moment I assure you that there is a minimum of 10,000 decisions that are being made that have an impact in development. Someone in charge of public land in Alto Lerma can be thinking about irrigating or not in accordance with the rain season, or someone from Jichu -- the smallest municipality in the state, located in Sierra Gorda -- wonders what to do with his milk. Who is he going to sell it to? Those are not decisions that are made by Zedillo or Fox.
We are all making decisions every minute of the day. The result of well-made decisions is prosperity.
Then, what are we doing? Feeding information for good decision making. We have created six new institutions in the state, whose first rule is that
instead of consuming 80 percent of the money and contributing to the society with 20 percent -- as it is done in other governments -- we have reversed the formula: They can't go over the limit of 20 percent of fixed expenses and 80 percent of productive investment for the society. These six institutions are: The State System of Financial Support for Development; number two is the INFO [Guanajuato's Web site,
gob.mx/>]; number three is the State Council of Science and Technology, which brings to businessmen and manufacturers the services of 33 universities and 43 research centers in the state for the development of a specific technology. Number four is the Inter-university Center of Knowledge, which gives practical advice as training for daily life -- training, education, conferences, seminars, which are planned by the state of Guanajuato through 500 centers that promote this knowledge. The fifth is the Coordinator of Exports, which provides markets for the manufacturers. There we had a great success in exports and investments in the state. The sixth -- unique in all the country and in the world I can say -- is the Foundation for Quality in Guanajuato. There we bring together the best businessmen, the best farmers, the best universities, and the quality gurus to promote quality culture among the 4.5 million people living in Guanajuato. It is not meant to lead an enterprise to become ISO 9000; it is meant to lead the state and everyone who works in the state. This is a unique experience, truly extraordinary, and we hope it is going to revolutionize the state.
Q: What is your conclusion from these experiences in the state?
A: It's simply that Mexico needs good governments. Mexico needs to use talent and needs the use of technology to govern. The time of bad politics, corruption and dishonesty must be left behind. We have to enter a new era of technological modernization in the government.
I think that Guanajuato is state-of-the-art in this. We are way ahead, and we are going to be in the future. I would like to end this conversation by saying that here in Guanajuato you can apply 100 percent of this philosophical statement: "Think globally, act locally."
That's what we are doing in Guanajuato. We are thinking universally by applying state-of-the-art technology to the chores and to the benefit of Guanajuato.
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