UAE Armed Forces briefed on Dubai e-Government vision

As part of an annual training program, 39 officers from the Air Force and Defence Institute UAE, accompanied by Lt. Colonel Saeed S. Al-Tunaiji were received by the Dubai e-Government. Lt. Col. Al Tunaiji also presented the Dubai e-Government team with a plaque in appreciation of their effort.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dubai e-Government for enlightening us on their various objectives. This is our second visit and we are impressed by the high degree of sophistication in the implementation of the e-services. This venture will definitely go a long way in drastically changing the lives of its users. This revolutionary step undertaken by H.H.General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, is a source of great pride to the emirate. It is a bold initiative that will unify all the government departments, thus overcoming various obstacles faced by them," said Lt. Colonel Saeed S. Al-Tunaiji. "This visit is part of a training program conducted to acquaint the officers with the working and initiatives of key business and government entities," he added.

"The armed forces are a very significant segment of the government and it is imperative that they are briefed on the current programs at Dubai e-Government. As they are responsible for the defence of the country it is crucial for them to be aware of the hi-tech communication initiatives undertaken by us," said Yousef Khalili Community Outreach & Marketing Manager, Dubai e-Government. "Dubai e-Government is expected to be immensely successful due to the enhanced degree of efficacy as well as the greater level of time-effectiveness it provides. Although the positive response generated by the initiative has by far surpassed our expectations, we still have to alleviate a few psychological and technical barriers," he added.

The event included interactive seminars by Anas Haddad, Content Manager and Kaizer Taherali, Systems Engineer at Dubai e-Government. Haddad presented the armed forces with a detailed overview of Dubai e-Government and the e-Services offered on the portal www.dubai.ae. The presentation emphasized the coherent vision of Dubai e-Government including core purpose, core values and medium to long-term goals, which include aligning and enabling all departments to work towards a common goal. It explained that the main objective of Dubai e-Government is to enhance customer focus and to improve efficiency and effectiveness of government services. The government employees are the most important sector targeted by Dubai e-Government, as the aim is to provide a single electronic gateway that will align and enable all the government departments to unify their services.

Taherali, on the other hand, detailed the technical aspect of Dubai e-Government and explained that every government department is connected to a single network called the Government Information Network (GIN). This provides network connectivity, inter-departmental connectivity as well as Internet access to and from the department. Since security is of paramount concern whenever services are offered online, Dubai e-Government has worked out a detailed multi-level security system that permits limited access according to the category of the user and information required.