Important Recommendations Announced During The Last Day Of The 3rd Gcc eGovernment Award, Conference And Exhibition

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the 3rd eGovernment Award, Conference and Exhibition concluded its third day with important recommendations for the ICT industry.

The event started with a speech delivered by Michael J Dixon, General Manager, IBM’s Global Smarter Cities Business, who presented examples of leading Smart Cities around the world. A panel discussion under the name “Smart Government - the experience of Emiratis” was then attended by a group of speakers representing the Smart Government of Dubai, Abu Dhabi eGovernment, Emirates Identity Authority and Smart Government in the UAE.

The event concluded by honoring the speakers and organizing members followed by an announcement of the final recommendations that strengthen the role of eGovernment in sustainable development and raise the efficiency and effectiveness among Gulf countries. The recommendations committee held several meetings and prepared a list of recommendations that were derived from the following considerations:

First, the content of the eGovernment active strategy and the four courses of action contained therein.

Second, the importance of the country knowledge and the projects, initiatives and plans that will contribute to supporting the GCC collaboration in the field of eGovernment

Third, opinions, lectures and presentations that were discussed during the three day conference

Fourth, the recommendations that were presented during the two previous conferences in each of the Sultanate of Oman and Kuwait

Fifth, the global trends in the field of eTransformation particularly Smart Government and Smart Cities

Below is a list of recommendations:

1. Building on the recommendations from the two previous conferences, and complete the implementation of the existing terms

2. Implementation of the conference recommendations by the unit that operates within the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

3. Establishing an eGovernment GCC academy responsible for developing competencies in this field and supplying the market with distinct local skills.

4. Completing the construction and development of the unified GCC electronic network to serve the GCC integration visions.

5. Developing standardized benchmarks to control quality of websites and maturity of eServices and Smart Services that will be shared with government departments in GCC.

6. Development of programs and plans to help those with special needs by enabling them to use electronic services.

7. Establishment of a unified Gulf knowledge platform that facilitates knowledge sharing, resource sharing and success stories. We can look at the European experience in the ePractice.eu portal and the American experience in the Howto.gov portal.

8. Develop a GCC policy for open data as part of the global trends and one of the pillars for development of applications and smart solutions.

9. Create a GCC website for linking data from all GCC countries according to the policy referred to in the previous point.

10. Development of a cooperative mechanism to limit attacks on websites in GCC countries, and develop a plan to address the security risks that could be involved in the application of BYOD technology.

11. Take into account the recommendations of the committee to assess projects submitted to the GCC eGovernment awards, and provide participants with reports on the strengths and weaknesses of the projects submitted, and add a class on best collaborative projects.

12. Develop an educational program for GCC children on eGovernment and knowledge based society including the creation of a children portal.

13. Development and circulation of a unified curriculum for Information Technology to schools in the GCC.

14. Support Arabic digital content through the development of a reference guide for writing in government websites. We can look at the American project plainlanguage.gov for reference.

15. Cooperation in the development and adoption of the electronic identification system eAuthentication and regulatory frameworks in the GCC countries, and the adoption of a mechanism for the regulation and development of common services such as ePayment.

16. Focus on those with special needs in the formulation and implementation of government Strategies.

17. Implementation of GCC education programs to raise the level of adoption of eServices and Smart Services to increase confidence and improve the cyber security culture.

18. Establishment of a unified App Store.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Dec 12, 2013

Back