Call to expedite development of GCC-wide Knowledge Society - The first ever GCC eGovernment Conference opened at Al Bustan Palace Hotel here yesterday under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Asaad bin Tareq al Said.

The eGovernment leaders and visiting international Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts urged an increase in the steps already under way to create a Knowledge Society in the Gulf region. In his keynote address, the Chairman of Oman’s Information Technology Authority (ITA) Mohammed bin Nasser al Khusaibi said the stage was set for the GCC to rapidly build on the astonishing progress all six nations have already made in the field of eGovernment.

Al Khusaibi focused on new technology trends and the significant impact it has on today’s society. “Science and technology systems are the most important issues of concern to the world in this age. The importance of this conference (December 21-23) comes from what we are witnessing in the GCC of the constant development and achievements in the implementation of eGovernment plans,” he emphasised. Seah Chin Siong, the head of IDA International in Singapore, in his speech, outlined the need for an integrated government, which includes the shift from eGovernment to iGovernment establishing the underlying foundation to serving citizens and customers better.

He said Singapore has 1,600 e-services online so far and efforts are under way to consolidate the country’s iGovernment infrastructure. He focused on the successes and challenges that the eGovernment face in order to improve services. Other key speakers on the opening day included ITA CEO, Dr Salim bin Sultan al Ruzaiqi, Mohammed Obaid al Mazroui, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs at the GCC Secretariat-General, and Bader al Dafa, Executive Secretary, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

This conference will create a platform for GCC eGovernment authorities to share their experiences, discuss the challenges of implementing eGovernance, agree on the priority eServices to provide in the GCC and explore ways of linking eGovernment portals of member states. The GCC eGovernment Award Ceremony will be held tomorrow in which awards will be given in the following five categories.

1. E-Services — End to-end electronic services offered to the public at large with a continuous focus on improving their quality of life. 2. E-Content — Online presence or a digital work that demonstrates a high standard of content, design, accessibility, originality, professionalism and overall efficiency. 3. E-Maturity — Initiatives that display best-in-class ICT infrastructure maturity in providing a standard, reliable and secure infrastructure for managing information. 4. E-Economy — Projects that implement best practice in the use of ICT to contribute to the economy of the nation directly and/or indirectly. 5. E-Project — Highly innovative, value added, time and cost saving projects that serve larger segments of society.

Each category has three final awards to be bestowed at the grand finale under the auspices of Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, Minister of National Economy, Deputy Chairman of Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council. The hosting of the eGovernment awards will rotate each year around the GCC countries, annually, seeking to attain the GCC eGovernment vision to sustain continuity of the development and the promotion of services and project competency. GCC experts stressed the need to work together in a way that achieves the comprehensive development desired by the member countries. An exhibition on the sidelines of the conference gives a clear idea how GCC countries are moving towards the vision of a unified GCC wide e-government.