STATEMENT BY THE SCE CEO MR KONG WY MUN ON DIGITALFIJI

14/06/2018

Most Honourable Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji,
Honourable Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Public Enterprises, Civil Service and Communications,
Honourable Rosy Akbar, Minister for Health and Medical Services, Permanent Secretaries,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Yadra Vinaka. A very good morning.

I would first like to extend our deepest appreciation to The Most Honourable Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji and Honourable Minister and Attorney General, Mr Aiyaz Sayed- Khaiyum, for inviting us to be a partner in this momentous occasion.

It is indeed a delight to be here with you today for the official launch of the DigitalFiji Programme. The Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (or “SCE”) stands extremely privileged to have been given the opportunity by the Government of Fiji to be its partner for Digital Government transformation.

SCE, currently an integrated arm of Enterprise Singapore, is a government agency by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore. It is set up to respond effectively to the multitude of foreign requests to tap on Singapore’s development experience. Its primary mission is to lead in public sector collaboration projects with foreign governments so as to build long-term partnerships with foreign governments and offer opportunities for Singapore’s private sector.

To carry out its mission, SCE works closely with Singapore’s 16 ministries and over 60 statutory boards to tailor solutions to the needs of foreign government. Its mode of collaboration extends from basic capacity building to complex project implementation. SCE also serves as the focal point of access to expertise across the Singapore government.

To-date, SCE has already engaged 47 countries and completed over 300 projects in the public-sector. These areas include:-

- Digital Government and Smart Cities;
- Public Sector Reform;
- Financial and Economic Development;
- Urban Townships, Industrial and Special Economic Zones;
- Water and Environment Resource Management;
- Education Policies and Training;

Presently, SCE is collaborating with the Government of Fiji to serve as its main implementation partner for its digital government transformation journey. This project will be key in strengthening the delivery of public services, done through a 4-year DigitalFiji Programme. The DigitalFiji Programme aims to provide a holistic approach to support Fiji in realising its goal towards a Digital Government.

For this reason, SCE has put together a team of experts from Singapore, which include former civil servants with relevant e-

Government experiences, and partners with established track records in implementing digital government solutions. A roadmap has been established for implementing these solutions which would cover for instance, Birth Death and Marriage and the Registrar of Companies. We are also working with the Government of Fiji on several mobile applications, and we are here today for the launch of two of them namely – myFeedback and Dir@Gov.
SCE’s track record in Digital Government projects
9. In the Digital Government and e-Services’ sphere, SCE has successfully delivered various projects with other governments. Key examples include:-

- The Revenue Administration Management Information
System for Sri Lanka, which is essentially a tax e-filing and compliance system that automates all its taxation processes for the country’s citizens and businesses.

- The Electronic Single Window System for Kenya, which is a customs and trade facilitation system that has reduced its clearance times significantly for traded goods.
- The National ID Card system for the Government of Mauritius, which is a turnkey solution that involves the implementation of a National ID Card system together with the design, production and distribution of new, fraud-proof National identity cards to nearly a million citizens.

As part of the DigitalFiji engagement, SCE will be working with CrimsonLogic as its key technology solutions partner for the programme. CrimsonLogic has more than 30 years of experience in the IT space, and has worked on numerous e-Government projects with the Singapore government. It has done work with more than 40 countries and implemented more than 60 projects worldwide.

In concluding, I would like to say that on behalf of the Singapore government, SCE is delighted to be a key partner for the Government of Fiji. Looking back, Singapore and Fiji have always enjoyed good relations, where diplomatic relations between the countries started way back in 1971, just shortly after Fiji obtained its independence. In fact, our founding father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew also spoke of the “excellent” bilateral relationship between Fiji and Singapore during a speech in 1986 in Suva. And being the visionary that he was, the late Mr Lee also mentioned and recognized how strong Fiji was in sports, namely rugby, back then. So it is no wonder we witnessed how the Fijian rugby team pulled off a stunning victory in the HSBC 7s finals competition in Singapore, just 2 months ago.

For SCE, Fiji also represents the first country in the Pacific Islands region, which we have engaged with. Previously in 2010, SCE had the same privilege of working with the Fiji National Provident Fund (or “FNPF”) to also realise its transformation process.

On that note, we are confident that the Government of Fiji will be able to achieve its vision of DigitalFiji. We believe that through this collaboration, we will forge stronger ties between Fiji and Singapore. SCE looks forward to deepening our relationship with Fiji, where we envision that the digital government will just be one of the first projects, with collaborations in other areas to follow.

Vinaka Vakalevu. Thank you very much for believing in us and giving us the opportunity to be here