The ITA was formerly known as the ITTS (information technology technical secretariat).
He noted that the cyber law will cover all aspects of e-transactions, and e-commerce and would include private security or encryption, digital signatures and all aspects of the e-law.
“Currently, we have some aspects of a law, which will protect certain issues, but this law will be a comprehensive one because we took the experience of others and shared their knowledge.
“We have also conducted a gap analysis with what this law will require and what is needed for existing laws to be compatible with this.
“So, a whole study has already been conducted and that will be shared with the authorities concerned to make sure that their laws are compatible with the e-legislation.”
Dr Sultan Al Ruzaiqi also revealed that e-payment would also become a reality by the end of this year. “It will come as part of our e-infrastructure, and will be out by the end of this year. A form of e-payment exists in Oman. The CBO has an electronic fund transfer strategy, which is included in the RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) — for transfer of bigger volumes of transaction and ACH (Automatic Clearing House) — for smaller volumes. The e-payment will complement this. Integrating the e-payment with this will benefit the existing governmental services and help in better delivery of services and help the economy.”
Another exciting project is the Ubar portal, which is currently being developed. “The Ubar portal will connect all the e-services together and will provide e-services for every citizen,” Dr Ruzaiqy said, adding that the name Ubar was taken from the famous old city ‘Ubar’, which used to connect trade routes.
These major projects and the important e-government network will pitchfork Oman into the digital society, he stressed. “Oman will be moving into a real digital society and we will see the industry grow this area.
“We are steadily moving towards the digital society. There is a unique government to private sector cooperation seen in Oman and soon, once these projects are in place, it will help us put Oman on the information, communication, technology (ICT) map.”
The e-government network is ready and in the final stages. “It is a major project with Omantel. It will entail the e-coverage of all governmental agencies in one integrated network, wherein Muscat ministries can connect with their branches and the like. And we will also provide a security framework on top of this.
“All of these projects will enable us to deliver more services.”
Another major development would be the disaster recovery centre for the whole government, which will be developed at the Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM). “It will ensure that when we deliver this service, all governmental agencies will be able to host their back up systems in the disaster recovery centre.”
Reiterating Oman’s steady trek towards the digital society, Dr Ruzaiqy said: “As far as our IT strategy is concerned. We are constantly emphasising on building ICT incubator programmes and building the capability of the Arabic content.”
Dr Ruzaiqy noted that work on the e-services was being conducted to international standards. “Everything we do here today is working to a set international standard. Our strategy is right and we are developing our e-services looking at having integrated e-services as we go on to the end of this year and/ or by 2007.
Autor/Author: Adarsh Madhavan
Quelle/Source: Times of Oman, 05.06.2006
