Israel among world leaders in e-Government

UN awards Israel prestigious prize for improved online services; ranks it 16 among international community's most advanced nations in field

Vita Kairys|Published: 06.26.12 , 15:02

Israel is one of the world's leading nations in the field of online government services, a UN report said. Israel ranked 16 in a recent United Nations survey of e-Government services and "available government" features.

The report, which surveys 150 nations around the world annually, also gave an especially high mark to the government's online portal "Gov.il," lauding it as "Very well organized."

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The report also ranked Israel as the fourth-leading country in e-participation projects, a ranking gauging public participation in online government ventures.

The UN General Assembly held a special awards ceremony on Monday, in which Israel was honored with an international award for improved online services.

Minister of Government Services Michael Eitan (Likud) accepted the award on Jerusalem's behalf: "These things affect our positioning vis-à-vis other nations. If we don't constantly check ourselves we'll have no way of knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are.

"This kind of survey helps us better ourselves. It's always very nice to receive praises and commendations but our true goal is to improve the services we offer the public."

The "Gov.co.il" project is part of the Treasury's Accessible Government venture, formed following the Knesset's decision to promote open government policies and governmental transparency.

Accessible Government's latest venture is "data.gov.il" – a portal meant to ease public access to government databases.

Israel will send a delegation to an international UN conference on the subject in the coming weeks.