Yemen held a regional workshop recently on e-government in Sana'a, the capital, which called for setting up a web portal for citizens and mobile Internet training units for government offices.
Prime Minister Abdelkader BaJammal explained that the government's priority is to educate the younger generation on the use of information and communications technology (ICT) at an early age. This will prevent the country from falling into the trap of having the latest technology in place without the capacity to reap its benefits, he said.
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology organized the event, which drew over 250 participants, including experts from Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems. Co-sponsors were the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Yemen office and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
UNDP Resident Representative James Rawley pointed out that UNDP is working with the Government towards a knowledge-based society with open access to information and communication technology and services. He said UNDP is supporting this because it recognizes the enabling role of ICT for promoting development.
The workshop aimed to help decision-makers identify and deal with major issues within such areas as public administration reform and e-government services, legal and regulatory aspects, e-tools and technical requirements, and case studies. It spotlighted the urgent need for an e-readiness assessment as a prerequisite for future ICT development and called for formation of a national ICT advisory council and development of a national action plan for using ICT in socio-economic development.
South-South cooperation was a key element, and participants from e-government projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, the Central Informatics Organization of Bahrain, and the State Government of Karnataka, India, presented experiences and success stories. Participants also came from the public sector and UNDP offices in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Iraq. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
