PHILIPSBURG:--- Government representatives of the Ministry of General Affairs, the Department of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BAK), and the Department of ICT attended the EU-LAC High-Level Policy Dialogue on e-governance in San José, Costa Rica, in May 2024.
The dialogue addressed areas of shared interest as outlined in the Conclusions of the Digital Alliance Days in Cartagena, Colombia, in November 2023, and shared understanding of the priorities and formulated specific and actionable conclusions to achieve policy-level agreements. Co-facilitated by the Digital for Development (D4D) Hub and other key partners of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, this bi-regional e-governance policy dialogue aims to bring together senior government officials, representatives from the private sector, civil society, and academia from Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe. The policy dialogue focused on establishing a cooperation framework for cross-border interoperability and cross-border electronic identity. As per the 2023 Joint Declaration for an EU-LAC Digital Alliance, signed by the European Union Member States and 21 governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, the EU-LAC Digital Alliance is a voluntary partnership based on shared values and a mutual vision for a human-centered digital transformation and efforts towards bridging digital divides. These operational takeaways, action areas and joint interventions reflect the vision for the partnership in the field of e-governance for the region.
Electronic identification and digital signatures are essential components for flawless and secure services provided online. These two components help countries boost their digital economy and open their digital market to others. Therefore, cross-border trust and acceptance of national electronic identification systems and electronic signatures are crucial for boosting the economy and market growth in the LAC region. Data Interoperability between independent countries can be reached by aligning perspectives, recognizing differences between them, and – following well-reasoned and agreed principles – by joint approaches towards cross-border data interoperability. This requires negotiation and open discussion between the countries in different domains. There is a need to improve the operational aspects of e-governance while strengthening the legal and collaborative frameworks that support digital integration between diverse governance systems and between the EU and the LAC regions. The objective is to increase cross-border data interoperability between the countries and define a joint roadmap for enabling cross-border services.
As part of the Global Gateway strategy, the EU-LAC Digital Alliance will mobilize the resources to ensure that the proposed actions provide the roadmap towards the EU-CELAC Summit in 2025. The 3-day policy dialogue concluded with a first draft position paper outlining actions identified by participants of the dialogue as valuable opportunities for bi-regional cooperation on e-governance, specifically on cross-border interoperability and electronic identification and digital signatures.
