Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Huang Ju have called for faster and more comprehensive development of government websites in order to provide the public with better, more transparent on-line services.

At a national meeting on Monday, Premier Wen, who is also the head of National Leading Group on Information, said e-governance should be accelerated to boost the reform of government administration and management, improve efficiency and services to the public and allow the public to participate in the decision-making process.

E-governance allows governments to use information and communication technologies to improve delivery of information and services, encourage citizen input and make governments more accountable, transparent and effective.

Vice-Premier Huang Ju, deputy head of the leading group, told the meeting that e-governance is an important aspect of government reform and it can improve government administration and efficiency.

China has made a lot of progress in e-governance, Huang said while calling on governments at all levels to further coordinate development of e-governance with economic and social development.

According to a recently released survey by the information office under the State Council, China had more than 2.6 million websites by the end of 2005, of which more than 100,000 are government portals.

Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan, who is also a deputy head of the leading group, said at the meeting that the goal of e-governance development is to set up a nationwide electronic governance network by 2010 to provide a mechanism for information sharing.

Government web portals should become an important channel for the public to access government information and more than 50 percent of administratively approved programs will be published on line by 2010, Zeng said.

China launched the central government website, www.gov.cn, on Jan. 1, 2006. The website, in both Chinese and English, contains links to all provincial and city-level governments.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2006)