Dubai School of Government and Microsoft sign Memorandum of Understanding

The signing ceremony took place at the Microsoft offices in Dubai Internet City between Nabil Alyousuf, Executive President, DSG, and Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager of Microsoft Gulf.

At the ceremony, Nabil Alyousuf of the Dubai School of Government said: "Through the signing of this MOU, The Dubai School of Government is underlining its commitment to nurturing public private partnerships as the way forward to successfully implement e-government plans in the region".

"Microsoft will help the Dubai School of Government identify collaborative opportunities to support e-government initiatives, promote intra-governmental exchange of expertise on information and communication technologies (ICT), including ICT-related intellectual property rights". he explained.

The partnership is in line with the Dubai School of Government's mission to improve public administration standards and performance in the MENA region, and achieve excellence in government standards.

Alyousuf added: "Microsoft will also help the Dubai School of Government organise specialised workshops and meetings between government leaders and IT companies to discuss technology trends that are driving the transformation of government sectors."

Fakhoury commented that the MOU was central to Microsoft's vision of helping governments to develop policies to harness IT for economic and social growth.

He added: "Technology advancements are impacting on many areas of life, and Microsoft believe that we can assist governments in creating policies that will help them to maximize the benefits of technology, to empower their people and economies to reach their full potential.

"Microsoft works with policy makers around the world, and by partnering with Dubai School of Government we will be able to share our experience with them, to aid their mission to help government leaders in the region."

Microsoft will assist the Dubai School of Government in issuing case studies on ICT and e-government adoption and implementation in the MENA region; release an annual report in collaboration with international organizations. to benchmark e-government readiness in the Arab countries and highlight e-government best practices in the MENA region; host regional policy forums; and offer advance training to senior government officials and executives from the MENA region.