Kuwaiti delegation shows keen interest in Dubai e-Government project

The Kuwaiti delegation was visiting Dubai to study the emirate's IT initiatives, including Dubai e-Government and looked into the various factors that went into its implementation.

The delegation was briefed at a presentation conducted by a team of Dubai e-Government officials consisting of Dr. Fawaz Abu Sitta, Senior Business Process Re-engineering Consultant, Dr. Okan Geray, Manager, Strategic Planning & Implementation Follow-up and Anas Haddad, Content Manager. The delegation was given a detailed overview of the technology that is used by Dubai e-Government to link and integrate different Government departments and was also briefed on how the incorporation of e-Government services would further reinforce the localization process.

"Dubai e-Government has been the focus of attention of many governments because of its pioneering model that aims to provide Government services online through a single portal www.dubai.ae. We were pleased to welcome the delegation from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs & Auqaf, and explain to them the advantages of e-government and Dubai's experience in implementing it," said Dr. Fawaz H. Abu Sitta.
The presentation highlighted the benefits of e-Government, the challenges faced at the early stages, the expectations and how to avoid risks."

"The Kuwaiti delegation was highly impressed with the Dubai e-Government model. Their primary concern was over issues pertaining to the security of online transactions and we were able to allay their fears by explaining the different measures that have been adopted to make online transactions as secure as possible," he added.

Dr. Okan Geray highlighted the four aspects of online services - customer focus, access to service, processing of requests and delivery of services - and stressed that all four needed to be addressed in entirety, instead of concentrating on just customer focus and delivery.

Referring to the fears about lack of security of online transactions, Dr. Okan said that security was uppermost in the mind of Dubai e-Government and the issue had been addressed by adopting proven technology that came close to being fail-proof. "With the help of technology and security systems, it is possible to make online transactions as secure as the offline ones," Dr. Okan told the delegation.

The Kuwaiti delegation's visit was the latest in a series of presentations made by Dubai e-Government to government delegations from the Gulf and foreign countries as well as business delegations on the objectives and achievements of Dubai e-Government.