inaugurated by al mansoori - gt summit 2007 discuss the new role of ict in arab governments
The second round of the Government Technology Summit (GT Summit), which is organised by the Dubai-based World Development Forum (WDF), will kick off in Dubai next Monday November 19th.
A galaxy of decision-makers, and senior Government officials representing 12 Arab Countries will meet with the leading IT vendors & technology experts in the three-day summit.
His Excellency, Engineer. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Government Sector Department, who will inaugurate the summit will shed light on the main features of the federal government strategy for utilisation of information technology in developing government sector.
Al Mansoori will also elaborate on his ministry’s plan to chalk out and implement advanced IT systems to enhance performance of ministries and federal departments in a way parallel to the success it achieved in assisting these institutions to shift to e-service.
The UAE government‘s strategy has set the base for public institutions to build up a comprehensive strategy on management development, stated Al Mansoori.
He stressed that the strategy pays special attention to technology for being one of the basic elements towards prosperity.
Al Mansoori pointed out that the few years to come will witness a remarkable evolution in the of ICT as an integral part of government services & adminsitration
The Summit will discuss the most persistent issue related to use of technology in the government sector, including: shifting from e-government to information government, IT management in the public sector and ‘smart’ IT infrastructure in addition to the challenges facing Arab e-Government projects, will be tabled during the summit.
The GT Summit, which is organised in association with Arab League, is sponsored by some of IT giants including Oracle, Cisco, Juniper Network and Huawei. One of the Summit’s sessions will be devoted to discuss the development of the Arab ICT Strategy, which was endorsed by the Arab Telecommunication and Information Technology Council of Ministers
Ambassador – Dr. Abdul Rhaman Sabri, Director, ICT at the Arab League mentioned that the League has marketed the 19th projects included in the Arab strategy, and managed to obtain approval of the International Communication Federation to finance some of these schemes.
Dr Sabri revealed that in 2008, will witness the launch of three important projects. The first concerned with the use of Arabic characters in internet domain names. The second with the Arabization of terms in the field of telecommunications and information technologies. And finally, the third is concerned with digital preservation of the memory of the Arab world including historical, cultural, scientific and all relevant information
Experiences of the e-governments in the Arab countries will be highlighted during the event. A scientific paper depicting hurdles confronting development of e-government projects in the Arab region will be presented by Dr Yassar Al Jarar, Executive Dean of Dubai Public Management College and Advisor of the Strategy Executive Bureau in Dubai.
Commenting on a recent market research findings, which estimated expenditure on communication and IT in the Arab states at $1-$2billion, Dr Jarar said: “Reality on the ground is not auguring well as most Arab governments and many private companies suffer from ‘productivity paradox. “where more spending on IT does not necessarily lead to higher productivity, efficiency or eventually citizens satisfaction”, he clarified.
However, he said, Arab experience in the fields of e-governments has achieved some success when compared to international declined success rates.
"UNDESA" estimated that 60% of global e-government projects have failed completely or partially in 2003 and the World Bank estimated 85 percent failure in 2004, added Dr Jarar.
Khaled Eid, Managing Director of The World Development Forum the Organizer of the Summit said that further progress can be achieved if Arab Governments look at ICT from a holistic perspective , adding that technology must be perceived as a core element for developing the government administrative system as whole.
He explained that the current administrative system in the Arab World is building its strategy on 3 key elements (laws and legislation - human resources - budget) without considering technology. Therefore such elements always act as an obstacle to the optimization of technology, as the need always emerges for new legislation or human resources development or short on funding; upon launching new technology initiatives
The Summit will also shed light on regional experience including The Information security in Saudi Arabia will be broadly discussed during the event in the presence of a large number of Saudi officials. Saudi General Investment Authority ( SAGIA ) , will demonstrate its pioneering experience in using technology in key projects & initiatives
Delegates from Saudi , Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Morocco and Mauritania, will take part in the Summit.
It is worth mentioning that the GT Summit coincides with the Oil & Gas ICT Summit, giving a wider horizon for exchange of expertise between technology leader in the Arab world.
