He was speaking on the opening day of the 14th GCC e-Government and e-Services Forum. The five-day forum aims to support and promote the development of e-government and e-services in the region.
The event is being held under the theme of "Top 100 e-government and e-services projects."
"The GCC nations, having understood the importance, have set about developing e-government readiness strategies and investing in necessary technological infrastructure. As a result, e-government readiness in this region has steadily and significantly improved," he said.
More was needed though. "More e-government awareness initiatives aimed at educating the general public and government employees about e-services are needed to ensure that the benefits are fully realised and are an essential factor in achieving our development goals. Another important issue is security, which remains a top concern when extending and developing new e-services, particularly the ones that involve financial and other transactions which transmit highly confidential information," added Kamali.
Nader Alyani, the Middle East consultant of the UK-based Government for 3rd Millennium (Gov 3), said in the present scenario, mobile penetration was more than the Internet.
"At present, mobile phone is more accessible and its penetration is more than the Internet. There are many socio-economic factors responsible for this. When it comes to the Internet, the GCC nations are also doing very well. Just like the e-government and e-services, there is also the concept of mobile government as well since more people have got access to mobiles than the Internet at the moment," the official said.
---
Quelle/Source: MENAFN, 25.05.2008
