The opening ceremony was attended by Salem Khamis Al Shair Founder and Chairman of Al Shair Group, Abdul Karim Al Raessi Director of Strategy and Planning in Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre, and H.E. Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Director General of Emirates Identity Authority.
Stressing the importance of the forum during the strategic partner address, Abdul Karim Al Raessi Director of Strategy and Planning in Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) said: "Today we get to examine together the accomplishments achieved in our region towards transforming government services to the online digital domain. As well as assess the engagement and active participation of our citizens through these digital platforms".
He added: "Information technology has emerged as a central pillar in the "Abu Dhabi 2030" Plan, which aims at building an integrated knowledge-based digital society that is economically solid and diversified, and embodying the vision of our leadership. ADSIC has established a firm foundation for successful e-government strategy, which is based on the vision of the government to utilize information technology strategically for good governance and better decision making. The prime objective is to achieve integration of government services of the highest caliber which are based on international standards that meet the needs and requirements of all stakeholders and contribute to accelerating the shift towards a knowledge-based economy".
Al Raessi pointed out that the Centre has succeeded over the past years in collaborating with all its local and international partners to establish the notion of electronic government that is founded on efficiency, transparency, and innovation. "We ambitiously look forward in the coming years to realize further achievements and reaching a level of excellence in providing government services through various channels through simple and undemanding procedures, that align with the recently launched "Smart & Mobile" government initiative, and in line with government directions towards facilitating a prosperous and luxurious lifestyle for citizens and residents", said Al Raessi.
"In conjunction with the adoption and continuous improvement of the e-government strategy and related initiatives such as the "e-Citizen", "e-Literacy", and "e-Maturity", the Abu Dhabi Emirate has achieved remarkable success on the regional and international arenas in utilizing optimum ICT best practices, which serves the journey of the Emirate towards sustainable development. Today, we eagerly work in full collaboration with our partners in the government and private sector on the development of the e-services strategy, and enhancing the readiness of the ICT environment, which builds on the continuous achievements of the UAE on the international level. Such as advancing 92 ranks on the 'online service index', one of the four indices the United Nations considers in measuring e-Readiness of countries around the world. We look to this achievement as a further motivation to continue the dedicated work together to realize the vision of Abu Dhabi government of becoming among the best governments in the world", concluded Al Raessi.
During the forum's keynote address, H.E. Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Director General of Emirates ID, focused on "Data Privacy and Digital Identity Protection). Dr. Al Khouri stressed that maintaining privacy of open data and protecting individuals' identities online will be the toughest challenge that the world will be facing over the coming few years. He added that addressing this challenge will require those countries to establish organizations that will take the responsibility of protecting the privacy of their people's data, issuing laws and developing legal frameworks to maintain the balance between making individuals' data available through cyberspace and securing the privacy of this data at the same time.
Dr. Al Khouri underscored the necessity to raise the level of individuals' and societies' awareness through promoting educational programs on how to keep data privacy and online identity theft which, once happened, it would be difficult to know the person involved. He called on governments worldwide to concert efforts aimed at establishing a set of measures and procedures that allow a kind of control and give credibility to the processes of data gathering and management, highlighting the need for bolstering cooperation between those countries and their institutions to benefit from the successful experiences and the best practices in this domain.
Dr. Khouri said that the developments in the field of technology have led to the emergence of many challenges in our contemporary informational age which creates more than 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data annually according to international reports. More than 90% of the informational data that countries own has been created during the last two years. "This increases the need to find new frameworks to protect data privacy and individuals' identities in cyberspace in light of the importance of this data for service providers. This data supports their business models, helps them in decision making and enhances their abilities in innovation, competitiveness and productivity, thereby contributing to the development of societies and the build-up of successful solutions to the challenges facing countries, governments and institutions", said Dr. Khouri.
Dr. Khouri believes that this realty requires countries, governments, institutions and individuals to redefine the concept of "Privacy" as a concept related to the control in collecting, management and use of personal data. He pointed out that the need has become more urgent than ever to enact current legislations and laws that govern the relationship between the privacy of people and service providers, especially that most individuals' data is available in different formats. He praised the laws enacted by the UAE to regulate the collection and management of data and the protection of individuals' privacy such as the Data Protection, e-Commerce and Information Technology Laws.
Dr. Khouri finally noted that the processes of collecting and analyzing individuals' data around the world can provide about 4.5 million jobs by 2015 according to international reports. Profits are estimated at 300 billion dollars in the health sector in the US and 250 billion euros in the development and management of the public sector in Europe and more than 600 billion dollars in the retail and service sector worldwide.
The forum also hosted other contributors including Khalid El Sheikh, the Entry Liason Officer from Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre. He presented a paper on integrating an e-service across government - the "No objection certificate program". Mansoor Al Marzooqi, e-literacy Program Manager at the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Center spoke about the e-literacy initiatives undertaken by ADSIC.
The GCC e-Participation and e-Governance Forum is organized in partnership with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre, Information Technology Authority of Oman, Kingdom of Bahrain's e-Government Authority, e-Government Program of Saudi Arabia and the Central Agency for Information Technology of Kuwait. It is also sponsored by helpAG, Peppers and Rogers Group and BlessingWhite.
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Quelle/Source: Zawya, 09.09.2013
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