IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Iran and the UAE have the widest access to internet in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region with 57 and 56.4 users respectively per 100 inhabitants, according to the latest report from Euromonitor.

Internet users in the Mena region comprise 5.2 per cent of the world's users and numbered 85.5 million in 2008, compared to 16 million in 2003, said the report. Their share of the world's total users rose from two per cent to 5.2 per cent over the same period.

Read more: Iran and UAE have most internet users in Mena

After years of talking about public sector reform but doing little to push the process forward, change may be on the way in the Arab world. Three important new trends in public sector governance have started to make themselves felt throughout parts of the Middle East and North Africa, according to a senior World Bank official working on governance issues in the region.

In an interview with The Daily Star and in comments at a recent presentation at a public sector reform conference in Jordan, Robert P. Beschel, Jr. said that the three new trends could be grouped under the headings of recognition, legitimacy and self-confidence.

Read more: Public sector reform ready to take off in MENA

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have come a long way in developing their telecommunications sectors.

Bringing information to communications

The explosion of participation in telecommunications markets has been widespread. Today, MENA countries are active communications societies, but must work towards becoming active Information Societies, found a new study by Booz & Company.

Read more: MENA countries: The ICT e-volution

Most governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seek to provide a broad range of social and other public goods to promote both economic and social development. The region has made significant progress over the past decades in extending education and health care, water, and public infrastructure. Against these signs of progress, however, stands evidence of enduring weaknesses in public services, precisely at a time when burgeoning populations and increasingly limited public resources are straining existing services and even threatening to reverse past gains.

Read more: MENA: Better governance means better public services