With the profound impact of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) finding its way deeper into the realms of good governance, it provides a valuable tool for accelerating socio-economic development. This has particularly gained significance with the 21st century witnessing a new paradigm shift from the industrial revolution to the information age, and rapid changes taking place in other parts of the world. ICT development therefore, merits a closer attention within our overall development framework so that our efforts to achieve the goals of our development objectives are realized more efficiently.

The Royal Government (RGoB) believes that ICT is an important tool to bridge the disparity between urban and rural communities, as well as globally. It is also recognized as a fundamental working tool in promoting knowledge based society. Within the overall framework of e-strategy program, ICT applications are further known to support sustainable development covering diverse field of public administration, business, education and training, health, employment, environment, agriculture, science, and preservation of culture. E-governance holds great promise for better service delivery in Bhutan, especially to those in remote locations who often walk for days to avail services.

Considering the immense impact of ICT on virtually all aspects of our lives, it is our sincere desire to build people-centered and development oriented information society where everyone can create, access, utilize, contribute and share information and knowledge, so that individuals and communities are able to achieve their full potential in promoting sustainable development and improving the quality of their life. Recognizing further that education; knowledge, information and communication are at the core of human progress, endeavor and well-being; the RGOB has been giving high priority to the development of this sector.

Although the level of ICT literacy has increased considerably over the last couple of years, we have a long way to go since access to ICT is still low and mainly concentrated in the urban centers. Establishment of the new Ministry for Information and Communications in July 2003, approval of the Bhutan ICT Policy & Strategy (BIPS) and creation of ICT Units in all the ten Ministries are some of the recent initiatives, which have presented immense opportunity to forge this strategy. The BIPS is a humble attempt to address some of the vast challenges of ICT faced by developing countries like ours, drawing on global experiences.

Legislation and policies in themselves are not enough unless access to ICT is enhanced to all those who need it and value its significance. For any ICT enabled services to grow fully, it is necessary to create a unified backbone network infrastructure, adequate regulatory framework, relevant contents, develop capacity at the user level and assure connectivity at affordable price. Coordinated and concerted national effort will be equally critical to further harness the benefits and usage of ICT.

While being fully aware of the challenges in this area, the Royal Government shall not spare any effort in providing ubiquitous network so that services are available anytime, anywhere, through anything and by anyone. In order to realize these dreams, we have a collective responsibility of ensuring that the right to information is respected and promoted in earnest to the individuals and communities to enable them to make better choices, and thereby enhancing Gross National Happiness, which is the noble development philosophy set by His Majesty the King.

I congratulate all those associated with the designing and launching of this website, and also urge them to up-date the contents of the website on a regular basis.

Lyonpo Nandalal Rai

• E-mail: nanday@druknet.bt/minister@moic.gov.bt/moic@druknet.bt
• Tel: +975 - 2 - 327932
• Fax: +975 - 2 - 328154

Minister for Information and Communications