In his letter, President of Latvia refers to the rapid technological advancement in the 21st century, underlining that ‘COVID-19 crisis has reinforced the use of technologies even further and new digital services and tools have emerged’. ‘Unfortunately, it has also become apparent that not everyone will be able to access these new services and tools. Some members of our society lack necessary digital skills, but there are also problems with availability and accessibility of such government services. There is a digital divide between various groups of society, a gap that will continue to grow in absence of efficient and consistent national policy’ stresses Egils Levits.
Digital divide may soon become one of the main causes of inequality, President Levits points out in his letter to the head of the government. ‘Not only will it make differences between various income groups more pronounced, reduce impact of civic cooperation and participation in public affairs, but it will also weaken the sense of belonging, thus undermining democratic processes,’ writes President of Latvia.
In his letter, Egils Levits strongly insists that it is the obligation of Latvian State to ensure that digital economy offers everyone an opportunity to multiply their prosperity and digital government services are available to all residents of Latvia.
President’s letter to Prime Minister Kariņš is accompanied by policy proposal of Digital Policy Group led by Ieva Ilves, Adviser to the President of Latvia for Information and Digital Policy, which identifies policy priorities and activities required to boost digital skills of population and digital services provided by government. Working group has also identified measures that would improve security of digital platforms and has offered its digital transformation governance and implementation model.
‘I am certain that policy proposals developed by the group will help us make digital transformation much smoother,’ says the President at the end of his letter.