In mid-April, NIA officials went to the Dominican Republic in order to select a suitable location and partner in order to establish an Information Access Center (IAC). Information Access Centers or IAC is an initiative that Korea has undertaken to help developing countries in helping to bridge the global digital divide. The Korean government has built Information Access Centers in developing countries to improve the environment for information use, and contributed to the establishment of information infrastructure and better information access in each region.



NIA, working closely with the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Public Administration (MAP), which is responsible for e-Government, set out to select an appropriate place for the IAC among candidate places recommended by MAP as well as to sign an MOU for the establishment of the Dominican Republic – Republic of Korea Information Access Center in 2013.



After executing a field study to decide where the IAC would be built, there were 2 options available for the possible location of the IAC. One of the options was within a Dominican Republic government complex and the other was an Emergency Management Agency. After the implementation of Field Study, it was finally concluded that the Information Access Center would be placed in Government complex in the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.



Once the location of the IAC was settled, under the participation of Ramón Ventura Camejo, Minister of MAP, Vinicio Castillo, Director General of Agency for Governmental Ethics and Integrity and Reyson Lizardo Galvá, Director of IT Department as well as other related officials, Dr. Yeonwoo Lee, Director of NIA’s Global Planning Department signed an MOU with DR’s MAP in order to come to an agreement for the establishment of the IAC in the Dominican Republic.



The inauguration ceremony for the Dominican Republic’s IAC is expected to take place sometime in October of 2013.