Dubai eGov’t wins praise at Cairo IT Conference

Dubai eGovernment’s initiatives at providing essential government services through innovative channels have been commended during the International Conference on Technology (ICT) that was held from February 4-7 in Cairo.

In a presentation made by Dubai eGovernment’s eServices Director, Salem Al Shair highlighted the government’s efforts in enhancing the delivery of public services to the region by improving government interaction and reducing bureaucracy traditionally associated with governmental departments.

“The eGovernance system translates directly into good governance, developing a transparent relationship between citizens and governments where there is no place for corruption or ineffectiveness,” said Al Shair.

“Very soon, citizens and residents of Dubai will only see the government officials on TV or in the newspaper, as visitors to any government department will not need to deal personally with government staff or even need to know where the services are provided from,” Al Shair added.

Dubai eGovernment has recently introduced several new initiatives directed at achieving 90% of the government’s services provision through non-conventional means by the end of 2007. Through Dubai eGovernment’s comprehensive web portal, citizens, residents, visitors and business enterprises can access more than 2,000 electronic services, including payment of traffic fines, payment of Municipality fees, applying for visas for friends and relatives, renewing health cards, company registration, among others.

The multi-channel approach of Dubai eGovernment encompasses four broad elements – the web portal, www.dubai.ae; the mobile portal, http://mobile.dubai.ae; mDubai, the mobile channel for communication with government departments via SMS, and the bilingual call centre AskDubai.