Qassim Sultan opens 3-day conference on documentation

He was addressing the opening session of the Third International Conference and Exhibition on Documentation and Electronic Archiving at the Dubai International Convention Centre, which is organised by Dubai Municipality under the banner "Knowledge Investment and Management for Decision Support."

The conference, held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and Industry, and Chairman of Dubai Municipality, is organised in co-ordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Sultan said technology plays a crucial role in the documentation and archiving industry as it helps maintain, recover and share documents and information used in the planning process. The United Arab Emirates in general, and Dubai in particular, has been a leader in this endeavor as most of the departmental transactions are conducted through electronic means.

He noted that Dubai Municipality has considered knowledge as a strategic asset required for the future development and progress of the city. "It is out of this firm conviction that we have been keen on developing our policies and empowering our human resources based on knowledge and technology in order to have a cadre with highly technical competence and the ability to provide customers with high quality services," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ghaith Hamdi Fariz, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Development Programme UAE, said: "Knowledge equates to development, hence any knowledge gap will lead to a gap in development. Henceforth, enhancing our knowledge will allow us to improve our institutions and the services we provide to our societies and our citizens. This approach has been adopted by the UNDP, as detailed in its 2003 Arab Human Development Report. The Report confirmed the fact that gaining effective knowledge and using it optimally in building human resources is the main driver for economic development, as knowledge has become one of the essential elements of productivity."

He added that the UAE, and particularly Dubai, with its state of the art e-government infrastructure, occupies a distinguished and advanced position as a leader in the development of a knowledge society capable of providing its citizens and clients with easy access to information on services.

Dr Abdullah Mohammed El Reyes, President of the Arab Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ARBICA), said the key to the advancement of any country lies in its reliance on progressive administrative and organizational policies in order to implement its varied development programs. The establishment of information technologies has been a milestone in this process.

"We must emphasize in this respect the great accomplishments that the UAE has achieved during the last two decades in the field of information technology and communications to create the knowledge-based society. The UAE has invested immensely in the sector of information technology and communications in order to adopt a knowledge-based economy. The UAE has thus become a pioneering state in implementing information technology, he said.

Sultan, accompanied by the key-note speakers and delegates attending the conference, later opened the exhibition that showcases the latest technology and appliances used in the field of electronic archiving and documentation.

The 3-day event, which is attended by some 75 experts from 19 countries, is designed to create a dynamic forum for exchanging experiences about knowledge management standards, policies and practices among diverse professionals coming from different sectors.