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A bit over a week ago, Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relation and Digitisation (Koninkrijksrelaties en Digitalisatie), Alexandra van Huffelen, presented the cabinet’s working agenda for the Dutch digital society. Looking ahead to 2023, the agenda is filled with ambitious but achievable goals, and as part of the presentation, State Secretary Van Huffelen elaborated further on its main themes of digital foundation and digital government. The presentation represented a first step towards the full implementation of the government’s ambitions in terms of the entire Dutch Kingdom’s digital transition.
Seven action points
The current working agenda for digital transition is the result of close collaboration between the different independent and semi-independent governments within the Kingdom. Together, they have come up with a roadmap for the digital transition and digitization in the many policy areas of the central Dutch government. This approach ensures that participation in the new digital society will be equal in the European Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands.
For the Caribbean region, seven action points were formulated:
- The continued development of an Identity and Access System, allowing students from the Caribbean Netherlands and the countries to get a BSN (BurgerServiceNummer or Citizen Service Number) more quickly in the European Netherlands and making it easier for them to apply for provisions.
- The physical and digital implementation of the plan of approach "Public service provision Caribbean Netherlands”.
- The implementation of the plan of approach to increase affordability, availability and stability of the internet.
- The enhancement of digital skills.
- Ensuring that everyone can go online safely and securely.
- The preparation of a proposition growth fund 4th round.
- Determining with the countries how to support the transition to a digital society.
State Secretary Van Huffelen has emphasized the importance of a fluent digital transition for Dutch society, both in Europe and the Caribbean. “Citizens and businesses in the Caribbean Netherlands must be able to participate equally in the digital society”, she explains, “This is often not the case now. Government services are not yet optimally set up and digital government is still in its infancy. This is where we will energetically start working. We will bring the services to an equivalent level as in the European Netherlands, both digital and physical. In addition, we will enter into discussions with the independent countries within our Kingdom to determine what we can do to strengthen the transition to the digital society in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten”.
The basis for this article was originally published on www.statiagovernment.com and others in November 2022.
