Within the framework of the Green Standards Week held this week in Montevideo (Uruguay), the XVII Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities took place, in which the Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET) with the support of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) recognized the cities of Medellin (Colombia), Central de Paraguay, Salta (Argentina) and Miraflores (Peru) for their initiatives in the use of ICT to improve the quality of life of their citizens.
Montevideo, 8 September 2016. This week in Montevideo is taking place the international debate on the road to smarter and more sustainable cities. The Uruguayan capital hosted the awards ceremony for the four cities that presented the most innovative proposals in the areas of ICTs and Security, Digital Literacy, Citizen Participation, and Open Government. The ITU, ASIET, CAF, ECLAC and the Municipality of Montevideo organized this event.
Medellín (Colombia) was the winner in the category of Citizen Security for its Online Security project. In this regard, Andrés Felipe Preciado Restrepo, Operational Undersecretary of Security of the Mayor's Office of the Colombian city commented: "we are very happy for this award that our project received from ASIET, because it ratifies a commitment of the City, and not only of the Government, in relation to expanding the mechanisms of citizen complaints". On the award-winning work, he stressed that "Online Security managed to bring people closer to the possibility of reporting both anonymously and criminally and that was very important for us to the extent that it allowed us a much more accurate approach to the facts that were afflicting the safety of citizens and also to know the real victimization of the city".
In the Digital Literacy section, Central de Paraguay was distinguished for its good practices with the Central Trilingual project. Blas Lanzoni, Governor of Central recalled that "in the Republic of Paraguay, we have two official languages: Spanish and Guarani. In the Governor's Office of the Central Department we are carrying out a project called "Central Trilingual", which allows us to teach English through an interactive platform that allows more than a thousand students at the secondary level to have the possibility of learning a language that allows us to connect with the world". The governor wanted to convey the "thanks to ASIET for this recognition that motivates us and forces us to continue betting heavily on the use of technology in education. A tool that allows us to reach all social strata without there being excluded and everyone has the opportunity.
Por su parte, Salta (Argentina), fue el municipio vencedor en la categoría de Gobierno abierto por el proyecto Salta Activa. «Este reconocimiento internacional es un orgullo para los salteños y una muestra de cómo, en poco tiempo, trabajando en equipo y con eficiencia se puede aplicar la tecnología para acercar los gobiernos a la gente y generar espacios de participación mejorando la calidad de atención al vecino. De eso se trata modernizar», señaló Gustavo Sáenz, Alcalde de la Ciudad.
La municipalidad peruana de Miraflores fue premiada en materia de Participación Ciudadana con su iniciativa «Miraflores 2.0: Sistema de atención al vecino a través de Internet. Jorge Muñoz Wells, Alcalde del municipio, mencionó que “agradecemos profundamente el reconocimiento de la ASIET para con nuestro proyecto· Este proyecto, señaló, “nos ha permitido posicionarnos como un distrito pionero en la gestión inteligente de la administración municipal en el Perú, a través del uso de las herramientas digitales para la mejora continua y la generación de valor público.”
The XVII Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities is being held in Montevideo within the framework of the Green Standards Week, co-organized by ITU, CAF, ECLAC, ASIET and the Municipality of Montevideo.
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