Regionally, added the report, many GCC countries began working on a regional e-government system and establishing a comprehensive vision on the project. But for this to happen, the social, economic and political circumstances of the targeted countries, should be examined.
Citing a report by the UN on the classification of global e-government programmes which was released last May, the magazine said the UAE ranked the first among Arab countries and the 20th globally in the list of e-government promoters.
Kuwait was second with 2.12 points, Bahrain followed with 2.04 points and Lebanon at 2.00 points, added.
Internationally, the UAE recorded 2.17 points before Japan with 2.12 points and Ireland with 2.16 points. The UAE also ranked before Austria which recorded 2.14 points and Russia at 1.89 points. UAE points were very close to those of Italy at 2.21 and Luxembourg at 2.20 points.
The UAE, with Dubai in particular, has taken confident steps towards adopting e-services in all government authorities, said the magazine. While the UAE is still in the elementary stage of a long path, the Dubai Government has proved through its e-government project, a continuous ability to create and upgrade the performance of government authorities, said Salim Al Shair, director of e-services, Dubai e-Government.
"Dubai e-Government is looking forward to unifying the data sources and the government e-services within one frame, which will be completed within small time lapses till the merger is complete," it added.
"In this way, the national or expatriate, or even the visitor, will be able to complete any governmental formality by using only one electronic resource and one user name and password in an easy manner.
"The government services will be available round-the-clock, and this will eliminate long queues at government authorities and will also cut costs, whether in the public or the private sector."
The federal e-government project, on the other hand, will be implemented in three stages with the first already approved and due for completion in the current year.
The second phase includes examination of proposals by specialised companies and launching the tenders while the third if for implementation , monitoring the start and progress of project and educating the staff of the new technology.
Al Shair, meanwhile has indicated his willingness to help all Arab countries to start using the e-services by copying the experiment of Dubai in this regard, which will save them a lot of time and effort.
"The vision of Dubai e-Government, which is shifting to a digital society, was put into effect by unifying the government services in order to make these operative through its unified gate."
"Dubai e-government is trying to secure all the factors for success, in order to implement the e-government project gradually. It exerted a lot of effort towards generating awareness about e-services among all segments of society, by launching a series of seminars and workshops."
Among the practical steps which have been taken in this regard is the establishment of a government communication network, which covers all of Dubai government authorities.
"Dubai e-Government has adopted a clear strategy, based on concentrating on adopting a comprehensive financial system, which will be financed by governmental resources and other external resources in order to prepare it for being self-financed in future," added Al Shair.
Quelle: Gulf-News
