IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi, who chaired the talks session, noted that the smart card project to be implemented in cooperation with UAE is one of the important and vital projects.

Biometric technology uses computerized methods to identify a person by their unique physical or behavioral characteristics.

Developments and uses have increased with demand to match concerns over international, business and personal security.

With developed countries forging ahead and the Middle East generally lagging in information and communications technology, there is a danger that the growing “digital divide” could hinder economic development, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

“The size and scale of the potential benefits foregone through failure to participate in the new ‘digital society’ are likely to be much greater” even than those missed in previous technological leaps, UNCTAD argues, in trying to help international and state policy-makers focus on the issue.

At a conference in London, in 2006, donors pledged USD 5.7 billion to Yemen. But, although approximately 83 percent has already been allocated to specific development projects, by the end of 2009, Yemen had still only received less than 10 percent of these pledged grants, according to the World Bank

The workshop will address major issues facing public administration reform efforts and the establishment of e-government in Yemen, with focus on supporting electronic tools. It also will highlight lessons learned from previous programs in these regards and will identify areas where UNDP/Yemen and ESCWA can have tangible impact in supporting the development of e-government in Yemen.

In November, the cabinet restructured the project's high supervisory committee.

Under the restructuring, responsibility for the project no longer rests solely with the Ministry of Telecommunications and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, but has become the responsibility of all ministries and government agencies concerned with e-government.

In September, the fund signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Information Centre that stipulated the centre would support the fund's programmes with its IT services as part of the centre's National Information Network project, a long-term project to develop IT infrastructure in the country.

The cabinet asked the ministry of telecommunication to set up special website for the E-government on the net in accordance with the steps mentioned in the report.

Approximately 96 web sites have been launched, which are expected to herald new interchange within the governorate and turn the largest-territory governorate into a small village, as every province and government office in Hadramout now has its own web site.

How many times have you tried to have an employee hurry up in signing the papers as you still have plenty of other work to do, and see this employ looking over the papers of another file and laughing with his fellow employee and eventually tells you, “I guess you will have to come tomorrow?”

They discussed means of benefiting from the experiences of the company in field of e-government and use of technologies to offer services for employers easily.

The meeting dealt with steps attained by the e-Government technical committee on path to implement this vital and strategic project in Yemen as well as the technical support that can be offered by the ESCWA in that regard, in addition to the contribution to mobilize the required fund from donors to succeed this project.