The Ministry of International Trade and Industry said Wednesday it wants budget allocations for fiscal 2001 to help the nation jump on the information technology bandwagon.
The ministry revealed the plan to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a report that outlines projects to be covered by its budget outlays in fiscal 2001.
Under the plan, the ministry proposes putting government administrative operations online, developing IT hardware and software that is easy for the elderly and physically disabled to use, and jointly enhancing e-commerce with other nations.
The ministry said it is necessary to secure the same amount of general account budget outlays for the next fiscal year as this year -- 923.7 billion yen.
Government ministries and agencies have to file their budget requests by the end of this month. The Finance Ministry will then screen and trim the demands to prepare a final draft budget in late December.