The Environment Ministry and US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) signed a grant agreement Monday to migrate government data centers and other critical digital infrastructure to a cloud-based Government Digital Service (GDS) platform.
US Ambassador to the Maldives Hugo Yon signed the agreement on behalf of USTDA whilst Environment Minister Aminath Shauna signed for the Maldives government.
Under the agreement, the US government will provide USD 895,000 as grant aid for the project.
According to the Environment Ministry, the cloud-based Government Digital Service (GDS) platform will reduce costs and improve public sector capacity for data management and security.
Operations in response to natural disasters could be carried out sustainably and "data-driven" decisions could be made using cloud-computing systems and open data platforms and applications, it added.
Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, Minister Shauna stressed the importance of developing the ICT sector and digitally connecting islands.
"This agreement will pave the way for establishing the Maldives national cloud and government digital services with strong and secure public infrastructure. The country's digital development efforts will accelerate with the Maldives connected to [cloud] service providers in the world," she said.
As part of the grant aid, challenges in both the sector's procurement work and enforcing laws and regulations will be identified and standards will be set for data classification and usage.
In addition to providing data centers platform architecture designs and devising a capacity-building strategy, the grant will also facilitate the preparation of data and analysis needed for financing and implementing ICT sector projects.
