DUBAI, 24 August 2006 — The investment strategy employed by the Saudi Arabian government, which added a further SR3 billion recently, will lay the foundations for the beginning of a comprehensive implementation of e-government.
A high level delegation of influential ICT figures from within the Saudi government and other public services sectors will share their expertise with counterparts from around the region at the Government Technology (GT) Summit & Exhibition 2006.
The three-day summit, in association with ICTDAR-United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and The League of Arab States, will take place on Sept. 3-5 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Dubai. The GT Summit is an invitation-only event and will target, high-level government ministerial officials in communications, commerce, education, finance, health, infrastructure and public works. The event will provide an ideal platform to debate cohesive and practical strategies for the expansion of regional e-governance for the common good of the Arab world.
Amongst a line-up of highly respected speakers, Fahad Al-Hoymany, minister’s advisor for IT, head of e-Government Infrastructure Department at the Saudi Ministry of Communications & Information Technology will impress on delegates that, “The amounts invested so far by the Saudi government is indicative of their commitment to e-governance. However, if the Arab world is to truly benefit, then a regional strategy has to be put in place.”
“For example, access to the Internet could be shared amongst Arab nations so that a regional portal could be utilized rather than more expensive international gateways.
In addition it may also be possible in some cases to request regional software licenses, rather than applying by individual country which could reduce costs dramatically,” he said in a statement.
Another prominent Saudi speaker will be Khalid Al-Tawil, director general of the Kingdom’s highly respected, National Information Center concurred, “Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states do not lack the technical infrastructure, but they still need to tackle educational and awareness issues. It is now time for the region to invest collectively in a coordinated and strategic approach to address the critical issues,” he said.
To specifically address the situation through a regional initiative, the UNDP introduced, ‘Information & Communities Technologies for Development in the Arab Region’ (ICTDAR), its strategy being to foster dialogue between the entire stake holder and leading IT players in Arab government to share knowledge and relate experience. The conference program will address a range of challenging current issues faced by regional governments.
