A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will endure for three years was signed by two nations through Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive of GovTech Singapore and Tom Read, Chief Executive Officer and Director General of Government Digital Service (GDS), UK to support the established relationship and improve teamwork in the development and provision of public services for digital government.
With economies around the world digitalising, it is imperative for Singapore to work with like-minded partners to push the boundaries of digital services for our citizens and businesses and unlock greater benefits for the respective countries.
– Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive, GovTech
Tom stated that the UK GDS is delighted to work with GovTech Singapore. Over the past three years, they have shared their knowledge and experience on a variety of topics, such as digital capability, the COVID-19 response, digital ID, data security, and our Government as a Platform strategy. GDS knows that peer-to-peer partnerships are a great way to share and improve good digital government practices.
Both the UK and Singapore are seen as digital leaders and take an active part in making international standards and discussions in the digital government space. Both countries know how important it is to offer digital government services, and the formalisation of their cooperation and collaboration shows that they want to keep the benefits of the rapid digitalization of the last three years. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (UKSDEA), which went into effect on June 14, 2022, led to the signing of this MoU.
Singapore has put a lot of money into Digital, Data, and Technology (DDaT) in recent years. They have taken a holistic approach to creating a digital society by investing in their digital infrastructure, improving the digital skills of the private sector, and setting ambitious digital government goals.
The MoU will cover not only sharing knowledge and methods for making digital services, but also looking into new ways of working that will help make government digital services more effective, efficient, and cost-effective in the long run.
Moreover, since the first MoU was signed in 2019, there have been a number of ongoing activities for personalization between GDS and government agencies in Singapore.
- GDS and GovTech have shared what they know about how to design for life events, with a focus on priority events, personalization, and how to use data to support this work.
- Through pilots, GovTech and UK GDS have started to share information and work toward mutual recognition of digital identities in the UK and Singapore.
- GDS agreed that Singapore’s public sector data security rules should be looked at. The GDS Information Assurance Unit shared its data security experience and best practices with Singapore’s Public Sector Data Security Review Committee (PSDSRC), which helped them come up with recommendations for data security processes and projects.
- In October 2020, GDS and GovTech got together to talk about their respective national cloud strategies. Standards, security, and the kinds of data that can be stored in different environments were the main topics of discussion.
Furthermore, GDS takes part in two multilateral working groups for the Digital Government Exchange (DGX). These groups are made up of people from different countries, which is an annual high-level conference put on by the government of Singapore. It is attended by international public sector leaders from places where the digital government has come a long way.
GDS and GovTech agree to continue working and help each other to get better at what they do -by sharing their knowledge and expertise to get better results for both countries.
