IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The government of Kuwait understands the importance of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in the development of the national economy and has been investing heavily for the fast growth and development of ICT in the country, says Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Al-Sabah, Minister of Communications, Administrative Development and Planning. He was speaking at a Ramadan Ghabga organized by Microsoft at JW Marriot Hotel on Tuesday.The minister added: "Our effort toward e-government reinforces our commitment and strategic focus. Microsoft has been a long term partner to the government of Kuwait and has always supported our various initiatives with their quality products and services delivered through their knowledgeable local team.

We have worked together on a number of projects for the government sector and have established a strong relationship through the years."The minister also spoke about Kuwait's signing of MoU with the Singaporean government on joint e-Government initiatives. "The first MoU was signed in September 2004, under which the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) developed an Implementation Blueprint for the establishment of a new IT entity and e-Government blueprint for the State of Kuwait," he said."The second phase of the partnership between the two nations will see the two governments working together to select suitable private sector suppliers to implement projects identified under the e-government blueprint.

Singapore will also take up an advisory role to Kuwait on Information Technology and e-Government matters."The minister noted that there are e-Health facilities in 76 clinics around the country. "Using our civil IDs we can go through the whole process of a clinic visit with no papers involved. The prescription also will be sent directly to the pharmacy by the doctor and the patient can collect the medicines using just the civil ID."The minister concluded his speech thanking Microsoft "on behalf of the government of Kuwait for being a supportive partner.

I look forward to their cooperation on many more initiatives designed to help boost Kuwait's position as an IT leader in the region."Earlier at a press conference held prior to the Ghabga, Samer Abu Ltaif, EMEA Regional Director of Microsoft, gave an introductory talk about the strategic grouping of the Microsoft North and South Gulf Subsidiaries into one 'Microsoft Gulf' region covering Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Yemen and Pakistan.Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager of Eastern Mediterranean subsidiary, Microsoft, for his part, said "the company's driving vision would be to maintain the growth that has been achieved by the Kuwait team so far, while expanding the company's role as a technology enabler and a contributor to the industry growth in line with Microsoft's global vision."

"We will continue developing long term partnerships with our customers and partners in the region and delivering increased business value for their investment in our technologies. Our support to local government will continue to grow, sponsoring their efforts in using technology as a key enabler to overall economic growth.""Microsoft Gulf will also focus on maintaining the growth that has been achieved locally with partners in growing the IT sector for the benefit of customers, while adding and contributing to further successes and leveraging the great talents that exits in the region, some of which will be serving the regional Gulf market from the Kuwait office.""We will build strategic partnerships for community projects that can demonstrate our role as a local citizen and can serve our objective of making technology available for everyone."

"The new arrangement will build on the great effort exhibited by Kuwait team so far. Since the opening of our offices in Kuwait in 1999, our investment has grown steadily in the country and we have focused on building strong ties with key sectors and with our valued customers and partners. This highlights our efforts to help build the IT industry in Kuwait.""Our persistence with key sectors has proven rewarding and we are proud to have established strong relationships with the government in Kuwait, which we are strongly committed to sustaining and growing over the long run. Some of the recent accomplishments include the inception of the Technology Support Center and the successful conclusion of the National Career Development Center project, our 2-year partnership with the Civil Service Commission."

"We have also contributed heavily to the Education and Finance sectors in Kuwait with initiatives like the e-learning project with the British School of Kuwait and projects for integration of internal processes with local banks like the National Bank of Kuwait and the Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.""With our strategic partnership with community organizations like the Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS) we emphasized our partnerships with community organizations in the country. Our partners in Learning initiative also aim to help bring the benefits of ICT to students in schools around the country."

"Microsoft also plays a key role in Kuwait's oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation and logistics industries, and we are very proud to count leading companies in each of these sectors among our top customers and partners.""Looking ahead to our local plans, we will continue working closely with the Government of Kuwait to support their technology adoption and look forward to new projects with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education. For the private sector we will have projects like the Plant Floor Visibility Initiative for the Oil and Gas industry.""We will see a lot of new activities coming up, namely some new product launches like Windows Vista, SQL Server, Visual Studio, BizTalk Server and Office 12.

Autor: Valiya S. Sajjad

Quelle: Arab Times , 20.10.2005