The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

ICT as a Part of the Chilean Strategy for Development: Present and Challenges 393
iii) Promulgate a law permitting the accreditation and certification
of the electronic signature and to provide a safe framework
for electronic commerce to expand expeditiously;
iv) Initiate offers of public procurement on the network;
v) Place on-line most of the services and procedures the public
sector provides;
vi) Generate an active risk capital industry.
Towards the end of the year, the President headed a public-private
mission to Silicon Valley where to meet important leaders of the ICT
world, and some cooperation agreements were signed.
In order to conduct the ICT issues, because it is a transversal
nature, the President ordered the creation of the Committee of
Information and Communication Technologies Ministers, which was
instated in June, 2000.
The Committee of Information and Communication Technologies
Ministers was constituted with the goal to facilitate government coordination
for the elaboration and carrying out of the follow-up of ICT
policies. This Committee was entrusted with proposing policies and
stimulating initiatives for the development of information development,
the stimulation of e-commerce, the promotion of the industry
of contents, the expansion of Internet access, to accelerate the social
learning process associated with the use of the networks, as well as for
the digital diffusion of culture and education. The Committee of
Ministers organized its activity in five areas: Expansion of Access;
Formation of Human Resources; E-Government; Companies; and
Legal Framework, and defined the coordinating leaders for each one
of them. The Committee set out to achieve the following proposals:
constitute the National Network of Infocenters; design and stimulate
the digital literacy campaign; complete the informational phase and
start up the transactional phase of e-government; develop a suitable
Legal Framework, especially the electronic signature law.
Digital Agenda: Objectives and Components
In order to give new stimulus to the digital issues, at the end of
March 2003 the President appointed the under-secretary of Economy
as Government Coordinator of Information and Communication