7 - 9 July 2008, Lotte Hotel Seoul, SEOUL, KOREA

SEOUL, South Korea, July 1 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- From 7 to 9 July 2008, World e-Government Mayors Forum will take place in Seoul with the participation of mayors and governors from some 40 cities across the globe. Along with the heads of the cities, CIOs and IT experts of cities from every continent, including Amsterdam, Ankara, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bonn, Helsinki, Jakarta, Manila, Nairobi, Perth, San Francisco and Sao Paulo, will get together in Seoul to discuss future perspectives of e-governments and ways to boost further collaboration between the cities.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080630/HKTU003LOGO-a )

Hosted by Seoul and co-sponsored by UNDESA and UNGC, the Mayors Forum will be held under the theme World e-Government-its present and future, building up a model of e-government cooperation, aiming to provide a platform to share outstanding models of each e-government practice, promote exchanges and cooperation between the cities, and present fresh vision for future e- governments.

Presided by the Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Welcoming Dinner on 7 July will be the first official event of the Forum, while Mayors Roundtable on the following day will highlight the entire forum by serving as a discussion ground for the mayors and other representatives. Besides, Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, who is well-known for his roles as a chairman of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association and a founder of MIT Media Lab, will deliver a keynote remark. Another keynote speaker during Opening Ceremony is Mr. Guido Bertucci who is a director of Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of UNDESA.

Above all, the mayor of Seoul and other leaders of participating cities will jointly proclaim Seoul IT Declaration, whose main points are to come up with practical ways to reinforce e-government collaboration. In addition, participating cities will discuss an issue of forming a cooperation body between e-governments.

Within the framework of the cooperation body, prospective member cities will launch and carry out wide-ranged yet specific on- and off-line joint projects, including projects on sharing outstanding models of e-governments, narrowing the digital-divide, enhancing administrative productivity and transparency by utilising IT, and formulating and disseminating strategies on eco-friendly IT or Green-IT.

For further information, visit the official website of World e-Government Mayors Forum at http://wegmf.seoul.go.kr/ .

Contact: Ms. Jeeyoung, Kim Tel: +82-2-6361-3116 Email: jeeyoung@seoul.go.kr

CONTACT: Ms. JeeYoung, Kim, +82-2-6361-3116, or jeeyoung@seoul.go.kr

Web site: http://wegmf.seoul.go.kr/