Mexico is embarking on the most ambitious project of its kind in the whole Latin American region
little over two years ago and after more than 70 years of one-party
rule, the election of Vicente Fox as President of Mexico signalled the
beginning of a new era of democracy.
President Fox immediately began to address Mexico’s greatest problem
– the huge gap between rich and poor that has characterised the
country for so long.
Mexico is something of a paradox; it is
the largest economy in Latin America and the ninth largest in the world,
yet it is estimated that up to 40 per cent of its 100 million population
are living below the poverty line.
“We understand what backwardness and poverty means, but we also
know what it means to be among the top ten economies in the world,”
says President Fox.
The President is therefore determined to
harness Mexico’s evident economic energy in a project aimed at
narrowing the divisions in society and bringing the government closer
to the people – the
e-Mexico project. Its four key elements comprise education, health,
commerce and the administration, and the vehicle that is being used
to accomplish this is telecommunications.
E-Mexico will involve the connection of
more than 2,400 municipalities and some 10,000 ‘digital community
centres’ to high-speed broadband internet access. The project,
costing an estimated £9.3 billion – the government is putting
up about £930 million of the funds – is expected to be completed
by 2007.
Thousands of connections have already been made. A series of government
information kiosks are being installed where the public can request
and access information about government services, or use the internet.
In addition, the drive is on to equip all schools with computers that
can also be used by the local communities. Satellite communications
will make IT available to the remotest villages.
E-Mexico will not only make the administration’s functions more
transparent, says the President, it will also reduce the cost of providing
health and educational services to remote rural areas by providing online
programmes.
“E-learning will be accompanied by
a national system of scholarships and financial aid for distance learning
so that education will be available in the smallest communities,”
he adds. The programme will also create uniform standards in education.
Several multinational companies are deeply involved. Intel, for example,
has donated £10.6 million to train primary school teachers in
computer technology.
Mr Fox says: “Mexico is most competitive in terms of foreign investment
because of its security, its monetary and economic stability and its
faith in itself. But many investors are still not aware of all the advantages
and opportunities we offer here.”
Mexico has free trade agreements with 32
countries and the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), signed
by Mexico, the US and Canada in 1994, enables foreign manufacturers
who set up in Mexico to export to the other two countries. Although
oil exports remain the main foreign exchange earner, exports are set
to diversify as a result of improved market access to Europe and Latin
America.
The UK is now the second biggest investor in Mexico. Mr Fox says that
when a new agreement is completed with Mercosur (the Common Market of
the South), his country will become a “powerful business block
for investment”.
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Pedro
Cerisola y Weber, the Secretary of State for Communications,
says: “There is no impediment for investors in the telecommunications
sector. The e-Mexico project is a huge opportunity.” He adds that
the government can only provide so much money for the e-Mexico project.
“The government’s idea is to subsidise the project to a certain
extent, and open up markets and create new business.”
Ramón Muñoz,
head of the Presidential Office for Government Information, believes
e–Mexico will define the role of government more clearly: “At
the end of the day, we’re talking about several privatisation plans.
It means that the private sector will take charge of those areas in
which it is more proficient than the government.”
Julio César Margain, Coordinator General of the
whole e-Mexico project, says: “Government modernisation is a big
challenge for us. But e-government can make administration more cost-effective
and of higher quality.”
Dr Margain adds: “E-Mexico is the catalyst and we are inviting
investors to build up the networks with us. It is not a case of bigger
government and institutions, because e-Mexico will also promote and
change industry by bringing in private initiatives.
“We have to remember that Mexico is
one of the five largest internal markets of the world, along with China,
India, Indonesia and Brazil. We have more than 100 million potential
consumers of goods. So the information society gives us the opportunity
to modernise all services. That means education, health, the economy
and government itself.”
An adult education program has been launched
to improve the skills of 33 million citizens who were unable to complete
primary or secondary schooling. In public health, e-Mexico will make
best practice and the newest research available to all. Similarly, the
e-economy, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, will benefit
from the promotion of new technologies and trading opportunities across
the net.
The challenge of e-government lies not
just in installing systems or technology but in building up a culture
of active participation in society. In that way the e-citizens will
become an e-democracy.
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