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SINGAPORE - Digital information holds the key to Singapore's economic future, Environment Minister Teo Chee Hean says as he launches four new initiatives, two of them Internet-based.
"The digital economy is the way to Singapore's future growth," he said in a speech at Singapore's National IT (information technology) Forum 1996.
Teo, who is also chairman of Singapore's National IT Committee, said Singapore aimed to be the IT mega-hub of the Asia-Pacific region in the next five years.
Teo said the four new initiatives include the launch of the information service TIARA, which provides users with a one-stop access to multiple library and other electronic databases and which, he said, was the first of its kind in the world.
Singapore Connect is an Internet-based information service for small and medium enterprises whose website, when fully operational, will carry a comprehensive business directory to help businesses to find partners.
Some 80,000 businesses are already listed on the website, or Internet location, and there are plans to lift this to 200,000 in two years.
To help establish electronic commerce on the Internet in Singapore, Teo also announced the availability of an Electronic Commerce (EC) Home Page and the Infrastructure for Electronic Identification (IEI).
The EC Home Page (http://www.ech.ncb.gov.sg) is an electronic shop front on which 30 applications are currently available covering merchandise from clothes, cakes and flowers to computer parts, music CDs and hotel and resort reservations.
The number of applications on which users can order items or make payments online will rise to a 100 by the end of next year.
IEI is a nationwide system for authenticating users on a network via electronic identification, Teo said.
The new services are aimed at schools, libraries, home users, small and medium sized businesses, said Teo.
Teo said the United States and Europe had already announced initiatives to develop IT applications, networks and legal frameworks to support a digital economy.
"The positioning of Singapore as the IT mega-hub of the Asia-Pacific will enable us to provide value-added services to the region and generate new business," he said.
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