The government is aiming to roll out at least 30 new e-government services and possibly more by the end of 2010, among which will be a Mygov personalised portal, Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference to announce the results of a recently published survey of Online Availability of Public Services, Minister Gatt said that Malta placed second overall from 25 EU countries in e-government services and third from the same group as regards sophistication of IT services.

“These results are of immense satisfaction to all of us and are a tribute to those who have worked to make this outstanding achievement possible. I wish to personally thank my assistant Claudio Grech and his team who guided the e-government project forward with zeal and vision and I can safely say that if it were not for him, Malta would not be where it is today”.

Minister Gatt said that the public and private sector were both important columns for the success of the IT sector although there were still those within the public sector who had not yet acknowledged the IT revolution. He said that while the government was rolling out its IT services to the private sector, this had not moved fast enough to be able to cope with demand.

“This report shows that we are a capable country and it states that we achieved the most outstanding progress ever recorded jumping from 16th to second place. However we are not just content with certificates and will not be resting on our laurels but will continue to roll out new services”.

Minister Gatt revealed that the government is working hard to introduce electronic ID Cards, Digital Certificates and Electronic Passports. He said that the next step in the gov.mt scenario will be the possibility to create a personalised ‘MyGov’ portal which would include the services most often used by the respective users.