A technical cooperation meeting on e-governance was co-hosted by the Public Administration Institute for Turkey and the Middle East (TODAIE), Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) and the E-government Consultation Group of the Prime Ministry of Turkey on 31 March – 1 April 2009 in Ankara, Turkey.

The Syrian delegation, headed by Dr. Ahmad Bassel Al Khchi, Deputy Minister for Communications and Technology, was welcomed with an opening ceremony at TODAIE’s headquarters. Dr. Ramazan Altınok, Coordinator of the E-government Consultation Group of the Premiership of Turkey , Prof. Dr. Eyyup Günay İsbir, Director General of TODAIE, Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, Mr. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of TIKA made their opening speeches.

In his opening speech, Dr. Alpay emphasized the importance of technical cooperation in the fields of IT and e-government, fields in which know-how is very valuable. Dr. Alpay, indicated that the only study that gives an idea about the e-Governance performance of the OIC Member States is “The United Nations e-Government Survey - 2008” and according to this survey, the e-governance performance of OIC Member States is far below the world average. The importance of internalizing knowledge related to e-Government application development and the possibility of the OIC Vocational Education and Training (OIC-VET) Program as being a very effective means for spreading e-Government related information and knowledge among OIC Member States were among other issues highlighted by Dr. Alpay.

During the workshop, the Syrian delegation will make site-visits to different Turkish Ministries and Institutions, including, among others, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice and the Undersecretariat of Customs.