IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The award was presented by H.E Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki National Economy Minister to Eng Mohammed Saeed Al Shehhi, the IT Manager at General Civil Aviation Authority at the 1st GCC e-Government Award ceremony held at Al Bustan Palace Hotel in Oman.

The agreement was signed by H.E Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of GIA, and H.E Mohammed Ahmad Al Bawardi, Secretary General of Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

On Monday it will witness the activities of the forum's second and last day. The GIA had previously extended invitations to all directors general, chief executive officers, eServices directors, information technology (IT) directors, the staff of IT departments and those in charge of eServices at government bodies to attend the forum and get familiarized with the new government shared services, which represent the landmarks of a genuine process for paving the way to eGovernment at the federal level.

The same decree tasked GIA with following up with government entities to make sure those standards are implemented.

H.E. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Information Authority explained n that the website evaluation process is in line with the efforts of the General Information Authority to drive the e-transformation and e-government foundations at the federal level.

Users can either get information on 5 random events of the day or request for specific events of the day. To request for information in Arabic for 5 random events, users need to type DSF A and send it as an SMS to 4488. The same information can be received in English by typing DSF E.

The 5-day workshop, which was held at Hall 5, Zayed University in Dubai, featured lectures and discussions on the official guide of websites, which the GIA distributed to the different federal government authorities.

General Information Authority (GIA), in collaboration with the National Academy for Research and Development (NARD), has announced that it has recently launched the ‘Khibrate’ (My Skills) program, which aims to empower government employees as well as other members of the community with practical and professional skills. The establishment of the Khibrate program is part of GIA's continuing efforts to build a society based on knowledge and to implement the UAE e-Strategy.

The General Information Authority (GIA) is organizing a workshop on e-Government in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The two-day workshop which aims at exploring ways to improve the performance of the e-Government in the UAE will start on Monday, 13th December in Dubai. UN Adviser for e-government Richard Kirby will be the main speaker at the event.

Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Information Authority said that through organizing this workshop, GIA aims to give representatives from the five ministries that are evaluated in the process of preparing the e-Government Readiness Index, the chance to meet Mr. Mr. Richard Kirby, a global expert who is the technical officer of the Report and the regional adviser for e-government at the UN. They will learn from him about the methodology and tools used in evaluating government websites.

The authority is a leading federal institution providing technology consultancy and services for all ministries and government institutions.

Electronic transformation within government departments and ministries has yet to achieve higher standards to deliver efficient egovernment services to UAE customers, said a top government official.

"We are coming up with a mobile payment system enabling you to pay for government services from your mobile and we are already in discussions with the RTA (Road Transport Authority) regarding [mobile phone payments] for Salik," says Ahmed Abdulkarim Julfar, Etisalat COO.

The conference, which is entitled 'Driving Development with ICT and the Internet' is being held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, Minister of Economy, and will be attended by high profile government delegations from Egypt, Jordan.

The session was addressed by Ahmad Bin Byat, Secretary General of the Executive Council, Salem Khamees Al Shaer, Director of Dubai e-government, and Ahmad Nuseirat, General Coordinator of Dubai Government Excellence Programme.

Emirates Business spoke to Farid Faraidooni, Executive Vice President – Commercial, du; Qatar Telecom's CEO Dr Naser Marafih; Dr Ahmed Abbas Sindi, CEO of etihad Atheeb Telecom "GO"; Ihab Ghattas, Assistant President, Middle East Region at Huawei Technologies and Ben Piper, Research Analyst at Strategy Analytics to get their point of view.

The extra cash will come from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) when it takes over the General Information Authority (GIA), which manages e-government projects.

The move was made official by a Cabinet resolution declared last week by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

On its website, the World Bank emphasised the significance of e-government because it serves "a variety of different ends: better delivery of… services to citizens, improved interactions with business, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management".