Dubai Government Departments plan for joint marketing and community outreach programs

The participation of 19 government departments under the umbrella of Dubai e-Government at the recently concluded GITEX Dubai 2002 marked the first such major joint exercise by various government departments in Dubai. The team effort displayed by the participating departments and the role played by them in promoting their services as part of the Dubai e-Government portal www.dubai.ae was highlighted at the meeting chaired by Salem Al Shair, Director e-Services, Dubai e-Government.

"The highly successful joint participation of the government departments under the umbrella of Dubai e-Government reflected the tremendous commitment the public sector has for transforming Dubai e-Government into a world-class project," said Al Shair. "The enthusiasm displayed by the departments showed that they shared a synergy that is so crucial for making such a complex project a reality. The spirit of teamwork displayed by the departments was commendable and their interaction with each other as well as the members of the public proved to be beneficial to all sides concerned. We hope to work together for several joint campaigns in future with additional emphasis on display and media coverage."

"The Dubai e-Government stand received an impressive number of visitors who were keen to learn about the electronic services offered by the participating departments," said Yousef Khalili, Marketing Manager, Dubai e-Government. "The joint participation at GITEX has led to greater interaction among the government departments and we are now exploring ways of coordinating with the marketing sections of the various departments to devise joint strategies to promote e-Government and public online services."

The departments that demonstrated their online services at the Dubai e-Government stand at GITEX were the Department of Economic Development, Dubai Police, DEWA, Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS), Dubai Development Board, Dubai Municipality, Civil Defence, Department of Civil Aviation, Land Department, Dubai Transport, Awqaf & Islamic Affairs, Real Estate Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, DTCM and the Department of Information. The participants also included the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Administration, Ministry of Interior.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs had used GITEX to demonstrate its e-Unit service, which offers online transactions through email. "Our participation in GITEX alongside various government departments allowed us to share experiences with others and fostered a spirit of togetherness as we jointly work towards realizing the e-Government dream. It was a rewarding experience for us to participate under one umbrella and we succeeded in demonstrating to the visitors the online services we have planned for the near future," said Aisha Belharfia, supervisor e-Unit at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

"The Dubai e-Government stand at GITEX provided us with an excellent platform to promote our online services," said Samiha Abdullah, Applications Support Officer, Systems Planning and Development at the IT Department, DOHMS. "We launched two new online services at the exhibition, this year, in addition to the renewal of health cards for individuals. These include renewal of health cards for organizations and renewal of medical licences online. Apart from residents wanting to know more about our online services, we had professionals from the health sectors in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi showing a keen interest in knowing more about our services."