The electronic National Data-bank is an ambitious project of the Abu Dhabi-based General Information Authority, designed earlier this year following a study and a pilot project. The facility will store and supply on demand information and data collected from all the federal ministries and local departments from all emirates.
The committee will develop the basic procedures for the project and a work plan stating cooperation and requirements among all government departments and institutions.
It has been set up by Sheikh Humaid bin Ahmed Al Mu'alla, UAE Minister for Planning, to provide a centralised information backbone for e-government services nationwide.
The minister, who is also chairman of the Board of Directors of the GIA, has appointed this committee with immediate effect.
Tariq Saeed Al Nouman, Undersecretary of the GIA, has been appointed as the head of the committee.
Abd El Wahab A. Mostafa, the GIA's IT Consultant and a member of the new committee, told Gulf News that databank will serve as the information backbone, enhancing the services and work of the UAE ministries and department and link them electronically with each other. "This facility is very important and can play a vital role since more and more departments are adopting e-government methods."
The UAE Cabinet, he said, is keen to promote information technology in the country and this interest has paved the way for creating more awareness on e-government among the people. The GIA has been providing consultancy and technical support to encourage more and more departments and organisations to adopt modern IT methods.
He said the GIA has also been working on a number of other initiatives to enable the UAE to meet the challenges posed by the phenomenal development in IT.
According to the GIA, ministries and department that are aggressively striving for IT include the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Youth, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Dubai Water and Electricity Authority, Ministry of Finance and Industry, Dubai Police Department, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Department of Immigration and Naturalisation in Dubai, Fujairah Municipality, Department of Health and Medical Services in Dubai, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Ministry of Water and Electricity and Sharjah Airport Authority.
The Abu Dhabi-based GIA is a federal body which was established under the Presidential decree No.3 of 1982 to provide consultations on computerisation. It has been playing a key role in spreading computer literacy and awareness in the UAE.
The authority has trained thousands of people, a majority of them UAE nationals, in IT fields. The GIA has the largest computer network in the UAE. It provides IT training and data processing facilities to the federal and local government departments and offices.
The GIA, governed by a board of directors representing ministries, air force, Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Police Department, has a branch office in Dubai to serve the Northern Emirates.
Quelle: Gulf News
