IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Each electronic card, bearing a special number, will include the individual's blood group, fingerprints, and other biological characteristics. It will be linked to all government departments to ensure quicker services.

Dubai eGovernment revealed that AED 1.1 billion was collected through their ePay payment gateway during the first six months of 2010, marking a 60% rise in money collected during the same period last year.

ePay enables customers to pay bills and settle dues for various government services electronically. These services include traffic and parking fine payment, DEWA bills and topping up Salik credit, among others.

A new network architecture developed by EHDF and application architecture designed by Dubai e-Government running on a new technology platform will help Dubai achieve the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to 'Ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the Government and contribute in establishing Dubai as a leading economic hub.'

A senior health official lamented the fact that most private medical institutions operating in the country shy away from paying fees levied on processing various health transactions online.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Dr Ibrahim Ali Al Qadi, Director of Private Medical Practice Department at the Ministry of Health said statistics compiled by his department have shown that most of private health clinics and centres in the country avoid paying fees imposed on various health transactions electronically.

"Substance declaration and evaluation of drugs is part of e-pharma project that aims to secure availability of vital information concerning approved pharmaceutical products to the public via single portal," Humaid Al Shamsi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Pharmacy Supplies told Khaleej Times yesterday.

As the emirate evolves and as the global environment witnesses increasing competition and change, Dubai will need to continuously modernise its government.

The new CRM application will help RAK e-Government Authority to understand as well as anticipate the needs of government and private organisations as well as the public at large. Dr. Hashem Ar-Refaei, RAK Govt.

During the visit, the GIA officials gave two presentations to the guest delegation; one on government services database system (Khadamate) and the other on the package of cloud computing services that the GIA started to provide to government entities with the aim of minimizing cost on one hand and enhancing the opportunities of integration and connectivity among these entities at the level of infrastructures, technological platforms, practices and procedures on the other.

The conference saw the official launch of RAK Government's new e-services portal, www.rak.ae, offering around 30 government-related services online.

The journal, which will be available in English and Arabic on www.rak.ae, is part of an initiative to raise public awareness regarding eServices and to facilitate the complete shift towards digital governance in the emirate.

The project follows Protechnology’s prior success and partnership with Dubai eGovernment and their magazine - ‘e for all’.

During the visit, the RAK- eGA team was shown a detailed presentation on Dubai eGovernment, its history, its 2,000 plus eServices, and the various systems and processes, technology and quality standards that have been adopted by Dubai eGovernment, which have made it one of the most advanced electronic governance set ups in the Middle East. The meeting also facilitated the sharing of best practices, knowledge and ideas between the parties.

Given its limited hydrocarbon resources, RAK has sought to focus on a number of strategic sectors to guarantee economic stability and prosperity. Central to this policy is the development of a strong financial services sector, a vibrant tourism industry, a growing industrial base and the establishment of the emirate as a trade and transshipment hub. All of these sectors have increasingly come to rely on ICT to remain competitive.