Govt announces five-year digital integration strategy

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government remained firm on relying on advanced digital technology to drive economic and social progress for Thailand. 
The development of digital competency will be required by all sectors, including agriculture, tourism, education, the medical profession, investment, disaster prevention, and public administration. 
To cope efficiently with the changing world, it is highly important to apply the use of digital technology in a well-prepared manner to ensure further development of quality public services leading to the achievement of public administration in a new dimension. 
“Within the next five years, the government will be transformed into a ‘digital government’ backed by the integration of operations and management among various government agencies. Smart technology and services will be fostered by a citizen-centric strategy aiming to accelerate Thailand in all aspects, both substantially and practically,” he said. 
The programme will be implemented based on the integration of an information network developed cooperatively by various government agencies, with a clear focus on four key development models: government integration, smart operations, citizen-centric services, and driven transformation. 
Pichet Durongkaveroj, minister of digital economy and society, said the Electronic Government Agency (EGA) had developed the Digital Government Development Plan to determine key strategies and policies in managing the government’s centralised information database. 
All government agencies have been encouraged to focus on similar strategic visions under the same standards. Hence the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, in collaboration with the EGA, has announced the three-year Digital Government Development Plan (2016-2018), approved by the Cabinet on April 5 last year. 
The development plan has progressed to cover 18 major domains of the total of 26 domains. Subsequently, as the EGA has reviewed the plan, it is essential to add another eight domains, consisting of education, public health, public utilities, transport, procurement, asset management, human-resource management, and salary payment. 
In the meantime, two new domains, digital-government infrastructure and government personnel qualification, have been added. 
The development plan has been advanced to the five-year Digital Government Development Plan (2017-2021).