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389139
Fri, 11/27/2015 - 00:57
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GCC eGovernment conference concludes

By Farishta Saeed Manama, Nov. 26 (BNA): The 4th GCC eGovernment Award, Conference and Exhibition 2015, under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister, was concluded today with the attendance of more than 750 participants from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Day two of the event embraced seven plenary sessions alongside a panel discussion of the six GCC eGovernment Heads, moderated by Dr Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja from Bahrain’s Informatics and eGovernment Authority. A number of topics, related to the eGovernment’s role in the national economy, were covered during the discussion; highlighting how the public has built its confidence in eGovernment and the extent of the eGovernment’s steadiness in competing on an international level thanks to its future projects. During the discussion, UAE’s Information & eGovernment Sector Acting Deputy Director General Salem Al Hosani stated that even though the current situation is directed towards reducing costs, such reduction should not be on the expense of providing services to citizens; instead, services must remain on very high standards. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, from Bahrain’s Informatics and eGovernment Authority, confirmed the importance of working on developing the governmental services through Business Process Re-Engineering and operations of governmental entities, in order to effectively reduce costs. Dr Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Al Eraini; Saudi Arabia Advisor to the Minister of Communications and IT and Director General of eGovernment Program; stressed on the importance of investing in IT in line with other fields such as health and education sectors. He also mentioned that 70% of ICT investments are being spent on equipments while it is required to focus the spending on other areas such as re-engineering and enhancing the innovation role. Oman’s Chief Executive Officer of Information Technology Authority Dr Salim Al Ruzaiqi​ said that each GCC country has its own comprehensive strategies that not only focus on providing online services but also consider the awareness area and citizen’s capacity building. Qatar’s ICT Government Programmes Assistant Undersecretary Hassan Al Sayed stated that in order to obtain the citizen’s trust in utilising the eGovernment services, it is required to eliminate the traditional methods. Kuwait’s Central Agency for Information Technology Deputy General Director Ms Majida Al Naqeeb highlighted the methods utilised in Kuwait to gain citizens’ trust in online services through allowing easy obtaining of information and payment services. Second day of the event commenced with the ‘Big Data’ session presented by Gartner Inc. Research Director Mr Joao Tapadinhas, followed by United Arab Emirates’ ‘Smart Cloud’ session, then Qatar’s ‘Discover the Benefits of Government Shared Services’, ‘Electronic Authentication Use through Mobiles’ by Oman, ‘Big Data between the Notion and Technique’ by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait’s ‘Online Social Loan’ session, and finally with Bahrain’s ‘Business Licensing Integrated System’. The Recommendation Committee proposed several recommendations which will be raised to the GCC eGovernment Executive Committee so as to follow-up on their executions, going in line with the achievements of policies and strategies of the member states. In the exhibition; the stands of the 18 participating governmental entities from the GCC countries, showcased the most prominent experiences and electronic projects. Such attempt enhances the exchange of expertise among the GCC countries in the eGovernment field.

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