IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The Jeddah municipality has succeeded in streamlining its work through the introduction of its e-government program, which has been set up to ease public access to information and smooth executive procedures, said Adel Fakieh, the city’s mayor.

The municipality is currently providing 33 services electronically through its website. “We are planning on increasing the number of electronic services to 53 in the near future,” said Fakieh.

Read more: Saudi Arabia: Municipality set to expand e-services, says Jeddah mayor

Major General Salem Al-Belhaid, Director General of the Passports Department, at the weekend inaugurated the new e-service which will allow residents of the Kingdom to process their re-entry visas through the “Short Message Service” known as SMS.

The new service launched in conjunction with Al-Alam Company for Information Security aims to provide a service for foreign residents by applying the latest telecommunications technology, Arabic Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Read more: Saudi Arabia: Re-entry visa now through SMS – official

Under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, a knowledge-based society is being established in the Kingdom for the greater good of its people, said Education Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdullah at the inauguration of the Advanced Technologies Forum (ATF) 2009 at King Faisal Hall here yesterday.

“Current development projects in e-government, and vocational and technical training, and the establishment of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology bear ample testimony to the king’s commitment to creating a knowledge and industry-based society in the Kingdom,” he added.

Read more: Saudi Arabia: ‘Knowledge-based society for greater good of people’

Under tight security procedures, the Saudi Public Key Infrastructure was launched following what's known as Key Generation Ceremony, a set of strict steps carried out under tight security and meticulous scrutiny by an international auditor, which culminated in the issuance of the digital public certificate of the Root Certification Authority (RCA) of the National Center for Digital Certification (NCDC). The security spectacle was executed in the presence of the minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Mohammed Jameel bin Ahmad Mulla, and the governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, Dr. Abdulrahman Al Jaffary.

Read more: Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) gets launched in Saudi Arabia