FutureGov Summit starts Wednesday

The 10th FutureGov Summit starts on Wednesday with more than 150 senior government officials from Asia, Europe, North America and Africa gathering to discuss the future of governments and improving public services.

"Thailand is the perfect host country for this year's event," James Smith, managing director of FutureGov magazine, said Monday.

"In the last couple of years we have seen some extremely ambitious initiatives from the authorities here, and many neighbouring countries are keen to learn more about Thailand's experiences in the field of egovernment and education.

"Likewise Thailand's public sector has always been very open to new ideas and to understanding the approaches taken by other countries. So we are looking forward to a very productive three days where significant outcomes on the future shape of government will be developed."

The summit was last held in Thailand in 2007 in Phuket. This year's meeting is the largest ever, with Asean and international officials learning more about Thailand's technology plans, and sharing their own experiences in egovernment and service transformation.

Discussions will range from mobile government service delivery, cloud computingbased education and protecting citizen's privacy from negative impact from of a new generation of eservices.

This year features a welcome address by Chiang Mai Governor Tanin Supasen. Attendees include senior officials from Asean, Deepak Bhatia, the global leader for egovernment at the World Bank, and the chief information officers for many countries such as Singapore and South Africa.

FutureGov magazine, the organiser of the annual event, is the region's longestrunning government, education and healthcare modernisation title. From Singapore, it controls the largest network of public sector conferences in the region on behalf of its 10,000 readers.