25-31 October 2000

EURO INFO In Focus: Vilhena Funds AGM "Assets under management in the Vilhena Funds SICAV plc. have increased by an impressive 42% from Lm36.19 million as at 30 June 1999 to Lm5l.58 million as at 30 June 2000. The number of shareholders has tipped the 3,500 mark." Chairman Dr Remigio Zammit Pace announced during Vilhena Funds’ Annual General Meeting. FEXCO Investment Services launched amid expanding industry FEXCO Investment Services (Malta) Limited was recently launched. The company has been licensed to conduct Investment Services business by the Malta Financial Services Centre. At a reception Finance Minister John Dalli welcomed this new initiative by FEXCO Investment Services (Malta) Limited.			E-government finding its place in the IT revolution [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] Mr Spiteri Gingell contends that Malta's future prosperity depends upon to the extent to which we embrace the ‘e-Revolution,’ with e-government as a key catalyst in establishing Malta as an Information Economy and Society Attaining e-government in Malta by David Spiteri Gingell MITTS Chief Executive Officer E-government demands that the infrastructure as well as the core applications must be designed in a scaled, flexible and modular basis, centred around standards - data, technical, interfacing, etc. - in order to allow for expansionability and changing technologies. The IT vision adopted in 1990 ensures that the Malta Public Service has a constant, coherent and consistent architecture supported by a set of critical standards, rendering the attainment of e-government far more realisable. The Central Information Management Unit submitted an e-government Vision and Strategy document to the Minister for Justice and Local Government last July. The vision is underpinned by a number of critical principles, such as: • electronic service should be easy to access in terms of speed, entry points and cost; • there is to be universality of access; • users are to be able to access the services at all times and on all days (24x7 days); and that • confidence and trust will be maintained. A three-tier architecture is perceived to be required to attain e-government. The first tier is the Portal, which will act as the single access window point for all Government services (within which will reside the authentication rules and security). Within the Portal will also reside the data protection rules to ensure that privacy of the individual’s data is maintained at all times. The Portal will have the transaction and messaging management regime, on-line directory, etc. Moreover, it will allow the individual user to personalise the Portal. The second tier relates to the delivery channels wherein existing as well as emerging technologies will interact with the Portal. Delivery channels will range from WAP and mobiles, Web and Internet, digital TV, kiosks, call centres and local councils acting as service centre points between the citizen and central government. The third tier relates to the back end - and this is where the existing applications reside - and will interact with the Portal. Interaction is envisaged to take place through virtualising existing public services on a ‘lifecyle basis’ - that is, the clustering of services around an episode (ex business) the transaction of which will trigger a considerable number of events (opening a business will require a VAT Number, a Company Tax Number, etc.). Malta's future prosperity is dependent to the extent we embrace the ‘e-Revolution’ and thus e-government is a key catalyst for establishing Malta as an Information Economy and an Information Society. Related articles: E-government finding its place in the IT revolution: The clear advantages of embracing e-government MITTS aims to create a virtual government

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