Minister of Technology Glenn Phillip told lawmakers on Friday that it was important for the Government to establish a presence on the internet that allows it to interact with its citizens and the world.
He said that the first efforts involved the assistance of the government’s Taiwan partners who have made significant contributions to the people of St. Kitts & Nevis, in the area of technology
These contributions he said not only included the web portal, but also substantial ICT infrastructure in the form of the National ICT centre at which the Government was able to host the technical components which afforded the country the ability to have a presence on the internet.
Minister Phillip informed that a reset of the Government portal gov.kn has been undertaken by local experts and developers and replaces the original portal which was difficult to update, and did not fully capture all of what St. Kitts and Nevis offers and was simply in need of a refresh to meet the expectations of today’s users.
“We have sought to completely revamp gov.kn in its appearance and functionality, which in our opinion will bring quite a lot more information and provide extended online facilities to our citizens and all that are drawn to interact with our country via its web portal. We think the new design is easier to use, more intuitive, professional, more functional; will provide more insight on the functioning of Government, is more up to date from a features standpoint, and unlike the earlier effort, will be a dynamic source of updated and exclusive information and online resources and tools, that will rival any Government site anywhere in the world,” he said.
Mr. Phillip said he expects to see substantial improvements in site rankings and the attention that is paid to this portal, bringing additional interest and interaction from citizen and visitors, and contributing to the growing interest in St. Kitts and Nevis as a centre for economic activity.
“The new site also embodies a number of enviable features, and, today we have released the first phase of the Government Portal – A beta Launch, which precedes the full launch of the Government Portal schedule for later this year. Our vision is to improve the level of our Government Portal to provide comprehensive information, more integrated services from all government departments and facilitate interactions between governments and citizens, businesses, investors, visitors, Diaspora, regional and international organizations,” said the Technology Minister.
He said the new gov.kn portal already has websites for a number of specific departments which include: Citizenship by Investment Unit : http://www.ciu.gov.kn; Financial Services Regulatory Commission: http://www.fsrc.kn; Department of Youth Empowerment: http://www.youth.gov.kn; St.Kitts-Nevis Accreditation Board: http://www.ab.gov.kn; National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA): http://www.nema.kn and the Financial Intelligence Unit: http://www.fiu.kn.