Chișinău, August 12, 2010 – World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick joined Prime Minister Vlad Filat of Moldova as a participant in the Moldova E-Transformation Forum today in Chișinău. The event was jointly sponsored by the World Bank and the Government of Moldova as part of a series of meetings aimed at helping Moldova leverage advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) to catalyze growth, spur innovation and transform governance.
The meeting brought leading international ICT experts together with Moldovan government leaders and World Bank representatives to discuss issues such as how ICT can catalyze government transformation over the next decade and which ICT approaches governments should consider to enhance country competitiveness and growth.
Moldova was the first country to join the World Bank’s e-Transform Initiative, which was launched in April 2010 as a major new initiative to use the transformative power of ICTs to enhance developing countries’ delivery of government services.
“The Government has placed ICT at the center of its strategy to transform Moldova into a competitive economy with an efficient, effective, and transparent government,” said President Zoellick. “I am pleased to be here today to open this Roundtable with the Prime Minister and am impressed that we have been able bring together such a high-level expert group. The Bank will continue to help Moldova to make this e-transformation vision a reality. The Bank team is working with the Government to prepare the Governance e-Transformation project to attract investments in ICT and promote transparency in governance.”
Other key participants in the E-Transformation Forum included former prime minister of Estonia Mart Laar, UK Government Chief Information Officer John Suffolk, IDA Singapore CEO Chin Siong Seah, Institute for the Future Director of Technology Anthony Townsend, Garter Research Vice President Andrea De Maio, and IDA International Executive Consultant Sebastian Foo of Singapore.
In addition to Prime Minister Filat, top Moldovan officials participating at the event included Government Ministers and private sectors leaders in the area of ICT.
