Dubai e-Government to launch e4all initiative to boost Internet and PC usage in the UAE

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to this end was signed by Salem Al Shair, e-Services Director, Dubai e- Government and John Davies, Intel's Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Intel will support and sponsor the initiative by offering the latest Pentium-based PCs at affordable rates in the UAE. The MOU is the first of its kind to drive the initiative that will expand existing consumer awareness of Internet, e-Government and PC usage.

"Dubai e-Government is entering a new stage of development by launching the e4all initiative with the involvement of Intel," said Al Shair. "It will provide a new impetus to the spread of e-Services and considerably enhance the skills of people and businesses to draw maximum mileage from Dubai e-Government's offerings. It forms part of our outreach program to create wider awareness about Dubai e-Government and its various channels and innovative online services. We believe this initiative will contribute significantly towards achieving our goal of providing most of the Government services online by the year 2005."

The e4all programme will be available to all citizens in the UAE, with the target segments being both individuals and businesses. Within each of those segments the focus would be on government employees and women at home, whilst in the business segment focus would be Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

"The UAE is already well placed with high levels of PC and Internet penetration, however we are keen to ensure that the full benefits of PCs and Internet have the widest possible reach within our region," said Al Shair.

"Intel has extensive experience of working actively with governments around the world on IT deployment to the average consumer, and our cooperation agreement with the UAE marks a first in the Arab World," commented John Davies, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Intel. "The project will provide an umbrella solution for ordinary UAE citizens to buy the latest Pentium based PCs at an affordable level with the added benefit of a combined Internet service offering."

"The most striking aspect of this joint initiative is the unity of benefits for greater PC and Internet availability with simpler access to government services, and most of all training on how to best benefit," Davies added. "For the average citizen, IT and government services is sometimes a mystery, with this programme it will provide a golden opportunity for anyone to gain the broader benefits of Internet and PC usage with the full active support from the government and Intel. The broader policy of Intel in the Middle East is to facilitate the development of services and content available through the Internet by working with the likes of software developers, banks, and education institutions."

Although the finer details of the wide-ranging cooperation agreement have yet to be finalised, Intel has agreed to be the main sponsor. Dubai e-Government has agreed to be the main driver of the campaign, and to ensure the participation and collaboration of the other main parties needed to make the programme successful. The programme will be extensively promoted through the media and through the Dubai e-Government' database of government employees, registered businesses and citizens.

Key to the success of the programme is the Dubai e-Government' commitment to involve an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a financing partner and a training agency. With the intention of maximizing the appeal for the programme, the Dubai e- Government will also work to ensure preferential Internet fees and attractive finance rates.

For its part Intel has agreed to consult with the Dubai e-Government to identify the most appropriate specification for the hardware solutions and also to target the most appropriate multinational vendor for the campaign. Part of the agreement also includes a wide-ranging marketing campaign to be implemented through various sections of the media, and wide-ranging databases.

The UAE is the leading region for e-Government services in the Arab World, and according to a recent UN report, is ahead of such countries as Japan and Ireland.

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