Dubai eGovernment outlines plans to enhance move towards knowledge based digital economy

The event is being held under the auspices of his excellency Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The two-day Summit concluding today is being endorsed by Dubai eGovernment.

Delivering the keynote address at the Summit, Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment, said, 'Dubai Government was among the earliest regional governments to respond to the rapid developments taking place in the information and communication technologies domain, with a major emphasis on electronic governance. Today, citizens, residents and visitors in Dubai and the UAE are able to efficiently manage their business and conduct transactions while on the move, benefiting from the advanced ICT infrastructure that provides content and applications that can be accessed on the web, mobiles and PDAs.'

'Dubai eGovernment's strategy has always complemented the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the government and contribute in establishing Dubai as a leading economic hub. We are committed to providing the ideal setting ahead of the creation of a digital economy in Dubai, by delivering high quality eServices and maximising its adoption across the emirate,' added Al Shair.

According to the latest report by the Arab Advisors Group, the UAE is the most connected country in the Arab world. The UAE, with a score of 261.4% in Total Country Connectivity Measure (TCCM), leads the table of 21 Arab countries.

Salem Al Shair also pointed out that while the UAE's population is 4.43 million, the number of mobile phone subscriptions is 5.52 million, making the UAE second to Singapore in terms of number of mobile phone subscriptions per capita.

Dubai eGovernment has facilitated the provision of several government services via mobile phones, through its mDubai service and its mobile portal www.mobile.dubai.ae. mDubai allows SMS communication between customers and government departments through the Push and Pull services, while the mobile portal facilitates users to access various government services including traffic fine enquiries, prayer times and mobile quotes from Dubai Financial Market, while on the move.

The Middle East Next Generation Mobility Summit is being attended by over 250 participants, and will see discussions on various topics related to the telecom sector, such as, 'enterprise mobility', 'broadband', 'RFID' and 'emerging trends in the industry'.