Working with fellow governments, an official from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) recently sat down with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in relation to the country's plans for digital cooperation.
According to DICT, this is part of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s aim to accelerate the country’s adoption of digital innovations.
DICT Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Foreign Relations Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo met with Ambassador Michel Parys, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Philippines, to discuss areas for digital cooperation, including cybersecurity, digital ID, and satellites.
“We want to learn from digitally-advanced nations in terms of building and improving digital infrastructure, improving the public’s access to and the government’s delivery of public services through digitalization, and strengthening measures against cyber threats,” Lamentillo said.
Belgium has an eID, an electronic proof of identity that citizens can use for electronic transactions, such as signing electronic documents and securely logging in to online public services.
One of Marcos's priorities is to fast-track the issuance of National IDs to make transactions with different government agencies seamless and more efficient.
Lamentillo said, the DICT, under the leadership of Secretary Ivan John Uy, is also exploring partnerships with other nations to help pursue the Marcos Administration’s Build Better More thrust, which aims to bridge the digital divide and improve the provision of public services through e-governance.