The UAE TRA hosts workshop to achieve eGovernment and mGovernment Readiness

The General Authority for Regulating the Telecommunications Sector (TRA) hosted a workshop at its Dubai headquarters, to implement the ‘e-government and mGovernment Readiness Index’ on “government.ae”, the country’s official portal. The workshop was attended by eGovernment representatives from all the emirates.

The workshop comes within the TRA’s framework to strengthen cooperation and coordination with the various entities and authorities involved in the transformation of methods and media for delivering government services. This approach constitutes a cornerstone of the UAE National Agenda, aimed to achieve the goals stipulated in the Vision 2021. According to the seventh indicator of the National Agenda, UAE is the first country in the world to provide government services through mobile phones. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) monitors the Readiness Index every two years and issues a periodical report on the progress of eGovernment programs in its member states.

“H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has pointed out that Mobile Government is an extension of eGovernment. mTransformation in the UAE is underway since 2001, when the UAE launched the first eService, the eDirham,” said H. E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General, TRA.

“Today we have clear and specific goals, supported by completion of projects in accordance to the set timeframe. Recently, when Sheikh Mohammed announced the progress of mTransformation in the UAE, he declared that we must raise the percentage of mService usage to 80 by 2018 and increase user satisfaction. Based on these guidelines, we are working to coordinate with authorities concerned, at all levels, in order to implement the plans and strategies optimally, and achieve the goals by 2018,” H. E. added.

“The workshop aims to introduce the Readiness Index as part of the UAE National Agenda, the new version of the “government.ae” website, and the areas of cooperation and interaction between various local eGovernments. We emphasize the importance of the next phase and its upcoming announcements, which are to connect, utilize, satisfy and provide quality, so that the number of auditors is reduced by 80% in 2018 for all service centres,” said Salem Al Housani, Director, Development Department, TRA. Al Housani also noted that the concept of quality means providing intelligent services, using the simplest methods, from anywhere.

The workshop included a detailed presentation on the United Nations’ eGovernment Development Index, which measures the willingness of national administrations and their ability to use ICT for the delivery of government services. This was built and developed based on a comprehensive survey of all member countries.The Readiness Index also measures the availability of government entities on the Internet, and represents effective evaluation of the official national portals. The index will also measure electronic services, participation, government data, and environmental practices. The index measures according to the four stages of development including emerging information services, enhanced information services, transactional services, and connected services.

The Readiness Index workshop comes in conjunction with the delegation visit from UN consisting of experts in eServices and the Telecommunications sector. Headed by Mr. Richard Kirby, Senior Regional Expert, who has praised the efforts and achievements made by the UAE within this field. The delegation’s visit was aimed at overseeing the latest implementation of the UN recommendations. The workshop also included reviewing and evaluating the most important initiatives, which also support the recommendations of the national portal. This is in preparation for the open data implementation with those concerned, its importance as a next stage and its effects on the United Nation’s recommendations questionnaire. Finally, the workshop helped review the cooperation with the United Nations Convention, which supports the Smart Readiness Index.