Federal E-Government Steering Committee to finalize strategy and transition plan

The meeting will be hosted by UAE Ministry of Finance and Industry, and will be attended senior government officials working on the project.

Speaking prior to the event, the UAE Minister of State and Finance, His Excellent Dr Mohamed Khalfan bin Kharbash said that the meeting would result in the approval of priority projects to be implemented in the first phase. "Following a process of assessing the current environment, our IT infrastructure and technical standards, we are now ready to prioritize projects for implementation based on our core activities," he said. "In order to achieve the key objectives of cost reduction and service enhancement, it is vital that we pursue priority projects in a structured manner that is coordinated with the overall E-Government implementation program. This transition plan addresses all organizational aspects including business processes, organization structure, procedures and technology."

Commenting on the implementation stage of the project, Dr. Kharbash said: "It is important that the implementation of the E-Government initiative follows a structured approach with distinct phases and clear deliverables. To ensure a successful transition, it is also imperative that government staff be actively involved in the implementation process to ensure sufficient knowledge transfer from business consultants. We are very proud to confirm that reaching this stage of approval was based on a highly consultative process involving a wide range of government entities and ministries."

The E-Government program implementation is structured in 'wave' stages whereby each wave has its own milestones and benchmarks and projects can span more than one wave or waves can overlap. The initiative was introduced as a tool to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the UAE Federal Government and is a key component in sustaining the country's competitiveness. It supports the creation of greater transparency to introduce more liberal economic laws, cut down on bureaucratic procedures and provide better management to attract overseas investors.

E-Government is just one of four initiatives being driven by MOFI with a view to creating greater efficiency and effectiveness in government operations. Total Quality Management, Performance-based Budgeting and Executive training conducted in conjunction with Harvard University, are also being implemented as part of the government's high performance program.

The government's E-government project draws from the experience of other countries that have implemented similar programs. "We have closely monitored the experience of other countries including Australia, New Zealand and the UK and acknowledge the need to leverage industry best practice in order to ensure that the UAE can be benchmarked among the best government service providers in the world," said Dr Kharbash.