The council, which was hosted by businessman Ahmed Al Sha’far at his house in Dubai, stressed that the United Arab Emirates, with a wise initiative from its leadership, is forging ahead strongly to achieve this efficient and rapid transition to this type of modern government.
Both the speakers and participants at the council lauded the higher leadership’s decision to launch the smart government initiative, which is a post-eGovernment phase, by enabling customers to access governmental services via mobile phones and tablets, any time and from any place.
Participants called upon the UAE private sector and its various segments, to keep pace with the latest developments in all areas related to smart government, on par with the federal, local and government sectors.
In his speech at the opening of the session, media personality Abdullah Al Mutawa’ from Al Arabiya TV, praised the Ramadan Council that is organised by the Law Respect Culture Bureau at the Ministry of Interior, stressing that convening such councils is an opportunity to submit and exchange views and to promote cooperation between the ministry and the various society institutions in the UAE.
As he moderated discussions, Al Mutawa’ pointed out that the UAE government has made significant strides towards shifting to smart governments by implementing several services and government initiatives via smartphones and tablets, hence, positioning the UAE at the forefront of the region’s countries, in terms of transition to smart government.
Lt General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of the Dubai Police and General Security, praised the idea of the Ramadan Councils organised by the Ministry of Interior which tackle several topics for the service of the community. He also talked about the concept of smart Government, saying, “By providing its services through smart means and media, the Government seeks to enable its customers to access these services from their preferred locations, without the hassle of commuting to service centres to complete their transactions,” indicated Lt General Al Tamim. He also called upon federal and local government institutions and departments to streamline procedures through smart applications to speed up transactions, citing several examples of smart services provided by the Dubai Police GHQ to the public.
He also lauded the Ministry of Interior’s Award for Smart Applications for students of national colleges and universities. “This award contributes to unleashing the inherent potential of students, provide them with new research opportunities that serve the public and encourage the spirit of competition and innovation among students. This would motivate students to share and implement their creations, so as to serve the community and reach out to an important segment of society through such initiatives,” pointed out Lt General Al Tamim.
Furthermore, he stressed the need to raise public awareness about the various smart services provided by the government in order to acquaint them with the optimal means to benefit properly from these services.
On the same note, Abdullah Al Bastaki and Abdullah Al Ali from the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai gave an overview of the smart applications and services provided by the authority to the public.
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Quelle/Source: The Gulf Today, 06.07.2014