Google and El Salvador execute agreement to modernize public services

The technology giant Google inaugurated its offices in El Salvador on Monday as part of a strategic agreement with the government of President Nayib Bukele to modernize public services in the areas of health care, education and administrative procedures with the State.

“This day we are inaugurating the Google offices in El Salvador, but we have already started working before: there is no child in the country who is not working with Google Classroom in the educational system,” said Bukele at the inauguration ceremony together to the president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo López.

The arrival of the American company to El Salvador is framed in the General Law for the Digital Modernization of the State, which the Salvadoran Congress approved in September 2023 and which contemplates the provision of Google Cloud services – related to cloud technology – during seven years to advance in three pillars: digital government, health and education.

López stated that the commitment to El Salvador is long-term and the opening of offices marks the arrival of Google in the country “to be an active enabler in cloud technologies,” which they hope will generate a positive impact on the economic development of the country.

As reported at the event, Google is already working with the Salvadoran government towards the development of simple digital ecosystems for import, export and health registration. The next steps will be to create platforms that allow interoperability between institutions and improve citizen service through digitalization.

In the healthcare field, Google is training different government agencies on how to use cloud technologies as part of their operations. The agreement includes the use of artificial intelligence so that doctors have access to patient information in real time.

Support for education began in 2020. Google for Education has collaborated with the Ministry of Education of El Salvador in public basic education, with the delivery of Google Workspace for Education Plus accounts, which incorporates artificial intelligence for the personalization of learning, as announced.

In addition, it was agreed to distribute 900,000 Chromebooks, laptop computers with the operating system developed by Google for fourth grade students.

Some critics of President Bukele's management have pointed out that the arrival of the technology giant to El Salvador is signed in a contract of at least 500 million dollars from the country with the company, which it was done without biddinghence It is not considered an investment foreigner in the country but a State expense.

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