Chile is widely recognized as Latin America’s most connected country. Moreover, it has achieved significant progress towards e-government on which, according to Brown University, Massachusetts, it ranks, in 2002, in fifth place out of 198 countries worldwide. Chile owes this status to its conscious decision, taken five years ago, to exploit the full economic and social potential of the ICT revolution.

Since then, Chile has achieved decisive advances on a number of key initiatives and is now working to implement a four-year digital agenda, launched in 2002. This agenda, which has the full backing not only of the government but also of the business sector, covers seven main areas, of which three have been identified as key priorities.

One of these priorities is the fine-tuning of Chile’s regulatory framework in order to favor the spread of new low-cost digital telecommunications technologies and to foster mass access to broadband services. For those who do not have access to Internet at home or work, we are also developing a national network of 6,000 public Internet centers and digital libraries that, as well as access, provide an increasing array of government services and educational content.

ICT training and education is another priority on Chile’s digital agenda. As well as incorporating International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) standards, we have also mounted a computer literacy campaign targeting half a million Chilean adults, who use our public Internet centers.

In its third digital priority, Chile is also moving towards a more advanced stage of electronic government. This involves not only the publication of information, but also allows our citizens and businesses to carry out over one hundred different types of transactions online, thereby cutting red tape and delivering efficiency gains, as well as increasing decentralization and the transparency of  government. This advance is, in addition, a powerful catalyst for the increasing use of Internet across different sectors of the economy and by private citizens.

As part of our digital agenda, we are also taking measures to promote the development of the country’s ICT industry, focusing on the development of software and digital services, which target not only Chile, but also the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. Similarly, in a bid to foster Chile’s ongoing integration into the information society, we are also taking steps to increase Internet security and to ensure the protection of privacy and e-consumers’ rights, as well as strengthening the terms and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Moving ahead in another field, we are also working to design an appropriate regulatory framework for the development of digital radio and television.

Building on this digital progress, the government has launched a program to attract foreign ICT investment as part of its bid to foster the use of Chile as a platform for providing digital services to other countries around the Americas. Chile’s well-developed institutional framework -similar to the standards of OECD countries- and its sound macroeconomic fundamentals are reflected in the excellent ratings it receives from international risk-classification agencies. In addition, despite a recent downturn in economic growth, Chile’s positive business environment and open export-led economy augur a bright future for the country. In addition, Chile boasts advanced telecommunications infrastructure and a competent, highly-motivated workforce. We believe that these advantages fully justify the use of special incentives to attract foreign high-tech investment.

High levels of enthusiasm and participation are evident. These are just some of the signs of a national consensus that Chile must move forward into the "Information Society" as quickly as possible in order to strengthen its economic and social development.