Saudi investment in e-Government tops SAR 3 Billion

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Although the digital divide between the Middle East and developed nations still exists, the Kingdom is rapidly catching up. The next stage in their e-government implementation plan will be to launch a significant awareness campaign to encourage the general public to embrace e-governance whilst explaining the key benefits to civil servants, business and society in general.

A high level delegation of influential ICT figures from within the Saudi Government and other public services sectors will share their expertise with counterparts from around the region at the Government Technology (GT) Summit & Exhibition 2006. The three-day summit, in association with ICTDAR-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The League of Arab States, will take place next month on 3-5 September at the JW Marriot Hotel in Dubai.

The cutting-edge event will provide an ideal platform to debate cohesive and practical strategies for the expansion of regional e-governance for the common good of the Arab world. Amongst a line-up of highly respected speakers, Dr. Fahad Al Hoymany, Minister's advisor for IT, Head of E-Government Infrastructure Department at the Saudi Ministry of Communications & Information Technology will impress on delegates that, 'The amounts invested so far by the Saudi Government is indicative of their commitment to e-government. However, if the Arab World is to truly benefit, then a regional strategy has to be put in place.'

'For example, access to the internet could be shared amongst Arab nations so that a regional portal could be utilised rather than more expensive international gateways. In addition it may also be possible in some cases to request regional software licences, rather than applying by individual country which could reduce costs dramatically,' he added.

Another prominent Saudi speaker will be Dr. Khalid Al Tawil, Director General of the Kingdom's highly respected, National Information Centre concurred, 'Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States do not lack the technical infrastructure, but they still need to tackle educational and awareness issues. It is now time for the region to invest collectively in a coordinated and strategic approach to address the critical issues,' he said.

To specifically address the situation through a regional initiative, the UNDP introduced, 'Information & Communities Technologies for Development in the Arab Region' (ICTDAR), its strategy being to foster dialogue between the entire stake holder and leading IT players in Arab government to share knowledge and relate experience. Covering all Arab countries, ICTDAR also aims to assist Arab States in harnessing ICT to reduce poverty, address digital divides and improve both public administration performance and private sector efficiency.

Dr. Najat Rochdi, Regional Coordinator, ICT4D in Arab Region - ICTDAR, UNDP, remarked, 'The first step in any serious effort to harness the power of ICT is to recognise the current status of all e-governance initiatives throughout the region. Objectives can then be defined, state by state, that not only identifies the priorities of each individual country, but crucially aligns them to the overall strategy for the region as a whole.'

The GT Summit is an invitation-only event and will target, high-level government ministerial officials in communications, commerce, education, finance, health, infrastructure and public works. Leading figures in other public sector or NGOs will also be sought such as chambers of commerce, municipalities, the judiciary, civil defence, utilities and tourism.

The conference programme will address a range of challenging issues faced by regional governments today. Strategy related topics will embrace E-participation, E-government, IT governance, risk and compliance management, business process management and resources capacity planning. IT related subjects will cover the actual dynamics such as smart IT infrastructures, enterprise architecture, integrated service delivery channels, connecting communities through Digital Cities and information security, access, collaboration and integration. Brainstorming sessions will held to allow delegates to share their issues, concerns and potential solutions, in an interactive format.

GT Summit has attracted a number of key industry sponsors which include Oracle, Intel, eHosting DataFort, Trend Micro and Itqan.