The e-government is an essential instrument that Arab countries should approve in order to guarantee the right of Arab nationals to have access to communication facilities. It was a major consensus arrived by regional Arab Bureau of International Telecommunications Union, (ITU). The ITU had organised in collaboration with Etisalat (E-Company) a regional symposium on Electronic-Government and Internet Protocol in Dubai which ended yesterday.
The event was attended by 13 Arab countries, representatives from the International Postal Union, Saudi Arabian Development Fund and Arab and international firms. The forum explored the plight of the e-government's service, its application in the Arab region and the extent of peoples benefit from it. The forum made a series of recommendations and agreed that e-govermnent to exist, governments should provide legal framework for it, and to give priority to services in the light of the citizens' informational and cultural needs, in addition the safety of the networks. The forum has recommended that ITU in collaboration with the concerned bodies, shall administer and supervise over the "Internet Resources" ( addresses of Internet Protocols, main services and others). The Arab countries have to Co-ordinate to promptly establish and activate Arab corporations which uphold Information Technologies like the The Organization of Arab Information technology; Arab Academy for Electronic Works.
The Arab countries need to encourage the exchange of successful Arab and international experiments in the context of e-government and cooperate in rehabilitating specialised human cadres in electronic fields. Establishing a work team comprising Arab authorities responsible for
e-governments in Arab countries to guarantee exchange of information in the realm of strategies, projects, information security and insurance of electronic services is an important requirement of the sector. The forum made some prominent suggestions which have been approved by all the 13 participating Arab countries. The recommendations include unified specifications, categories of certificates in electronic signature, coordination of the terms of electronic signature and electronic linkage system. The Arab countries need to construct a general strategy for e-government.
Autor: Sandhya D'Mello
Quelle: Khaleej Times, 26.11.2004
