DICT’s Lamentillo talks about digital cooperation with Spain envoy

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo meets with Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Miguel Utray Delgado (3rd from left), Deputy Chief of Mission Carmela Barcia-Bustelo (rightmost), and Alfonso Bigeriego Patino (leftmost) to discuss cooperation on digitalization between the Philippines and Spain. Contributed photo

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo paid a courtesy visit to Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, Miguel Utray Delgado to discuss areas of digital cooperation between the Philippines and Spain.

Lamentillo, who handles the DICT’s foreign relations, said that the areas of partnership she talked about with the Spanish Ambassador include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, e-governance, and connectivity.

“This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Spain. We hope to build on that strong and enduring ties to forge cooperation on digitalization,” she said.

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She explained that among the priorities of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. under the “Build Better More” thrust is to expand connectivity in the underserved and unserved areas in the country and to digitalize government services to improve government productivity and efficiency in terms of delivering public services.

In line with this, the DICT, under the current leadership of Secretary Ivan John Uy, is exploring partnerships with other nations to further cooperation, exchange of knowledge, technical expertise, and best practices on digitalization, among others.