Strong support and priority by the government to the information and communication technology (ICT) sector raised the UAE's ranking among the world's most networked economies globally by four positions to 23rd place in a latest study.
According to the World Economic Forum's latest The Global Information Technology Report 2009-10, the UAE's impressive performance in recent years has been driven by a strong and consistent government focus on ICT – second and 29th for government readiness and usage, respectively — as a key factor for its vision for the future.
The government has not only been quite successful in promoting ICT diffusion, but is widely using it to improve its efficiency, albeit government online services and e-participation remain low, said the report.
Among the country's many other strengths are its outstanding individual preparation and ICT usage together with its ICT-conducive market environment.
Bahrain – which was ranked 29th – consolidated the impressive upward trend started last year, with another eight-place improvement and a performance driven by an extremely ICT- and business-friendly market environment and high individual readiness, as well as outstanding government readiness and usage, including top-class e-government services and widespread e-participation.
Qatar's rank remained unchanged at 30th position. Government readiness and usage are ranked third and 33rd, respectively.
While Oman remained at 50th, Saudi Arabia moved up two places to 38th, building on its impressive eight-place jump from 2007-08 to 2008-09, with important improvements in individual readiness and, to a lesser extent, in the market and regulatory environments.
Sweden replaces denmark
Sweden replaced Denmark as world's most networked economy while the US moved down two positions to fifth place in The Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 rankings. China and India – ranked 37 and 43 respectively – led Bric economies and continued the upward trend with a nine and 11 place improvement. respectively.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Waheed Abbas
Quelle/Source: Emirates Business 24/7, 28.03.2010
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