Mr. KONO Taro, Minister for Digital Transformation, visited the Republic of Singapore
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Published on June 26, 2023
On June 22 and 23, 2023, Minister KONO Taro visited the Republic of Singapore, where he held meetings with Mrs. Josephine TEO, Minister for Communications and Information, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Dr. Janil PUTHUCHEARY, Minister-in-charge of GovTech. In order to strengthen the partnership with Singapore based on the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the digital field signed with GovTech in May 2022, they exchanged views on the utilization of digital IDs, including corporate IDs, and the promotion of individual and specific initiatives such as addressing the digital divide and facilitating the Peppol e-invoice, as well as shared advanced cases of digitalization using data analysis, IoT, etc. for the future cooperation.
1. Visits to the Republic of Singapore
On June 22 and 23, 2023, Minister Kono visited the Republic of Singapore and held meetings with Mrs. Josephine Teo, Minister for Communications and Information, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Minister- in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, and Dr Janil Puthucheary, Minister-in-charge of GovTech (Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Health).
Based on the Memorandum of Cooperation in the digital field signed in May 2022, the Ministers discussed specific use cases and exchanged views on how to enable digital IDs and digital certificates to be interoperable. This will improve digital services for citizens and the private sectors. They also agreed to enhance the cooperation for the digitalization of public administration.
2. Meeting with Dr. Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment & Ministry of Transport
At the Marina and Port Authority (MPA), Minister Kono had a meeting with Dr. Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment & Ministry of Transport and briefed about Singapore's Smart Port Challenge. During the meeting, Minister Kono received an overview of robotics, including remote control and automated driving, to enhance marine traffic and transportation capacity. Additionally, the meeting covered efforts to improve the supply chain by digitalizing port processes, such as electronic fuel supply certificates. Q&A session was also set up to allow time for questions and answers.
3. Visits to Govtech／Hive
Minister Kono visited the office of GovTech, the agency that provides the infrastructure to support the implementation in charge of digital government in Singapore.
Minister Kono received an explanation of the organizational outline of Hive, which is responsible for system development related to administrative services. At the same time, there was an explanation of the technology stack developed by the government and the Government Commercial Cloud, which is the basis for system development common to administrative agencies using the commercial cloud. Moreover, the technology base promoted by GovTech, the cross-government API hub (APEX), and the portal site for citizens that utilize the technology base were also presented during the meeting. Govtech explained the actual development process, which resulted in a fruitful discussion. They also provided an overview of Singapore's National Digital ID (NRIC) and the national service application (SingPass) and shared valuable insights and knowledge on future initiatives, including identification methods.
4. Visits to IMDA
At IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority), Minister Kono exchanged views with Ian Mak CEO, and had a dialogue on cooperation in the Peppol e-invoice policy, operationalization of DFFT including IAP (Institutional Arrangement for Partnership), collaboration in international policy on data governance, and the involvement of ASEAN and G20 countries.
During the meeting, the Digital Ambassador System was introduced as part of digital inclusion initiative of IMDA to bridge the digital divide. Afterwards, the participants visited Heartbeat@Bedok, the site of the initiative.
We would like to link this initiative with the future development of the Digital Promotion Committee, which is a similar initiative promoted by the Digital Agency.
5. Visits to digital-related government agencies
Minister Kono visited government agencies promoting digitalization in Singapore.
During the visit to JTC Summit, Minister Kono observed a demonstration of the Open Digital Platform, which was jointly developed by JTC and GovTech. JTC is developing smart cities, including the Punggol Digital District (PDD), and the Open Digital Platform is the basis for a smart city that utilizes a digital twin.
Minister Kono also visited the Digital Planning Lab of URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) and LTA (Land Transport Authority) to observe the accumulation of data collected by various institutions, including mobile and sensor (IoT) data, and the digitalization of internal processes and the provision of digital services using data analysis.
Moreover, a lunch meeting with Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore was held to exchange views on international cooperation between Japan and Singapore.
