RIYADH, 14 January 2007 — In what is seen as a significant move, the Kingdom’s e-government national portal will become operational at the first national e-transaction conference. The conference will be opened at the King Fahd Cultural Center today by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Orainy, adviser to the minister of communications and information technology, and Ali S. Al-Soma, the minister’s adviser for IT and director general of the e-government program, said the e-government portal would allow both citizens and expatriates to access government information on the Internet.
“It’s a major initiative for promoting transparency in government functioning and increasing productivity, efficiency and the speedy delivery of services to all people, including visitors,” Al-Soma said. He said that the e-government data center would be operational during the conference along with the e-government network.
Some 50 local and 14 international speakers will share their experiences at the conference. The e-government initiative, known as Yesser (meaning simplify), seeks to promote integrated services to Internet users during the first phase. “By 2010 we should have at least 150 integrated portal services of world class,” Al-Soma said. He said e-government was chosen as the theme for the first conference since efficiency in the government sector is of great importance in the light of the Kingdom’s accession to the WTO and the need for greater transparency. Subsequent conferences will focus on such different themes as e-commerce, e-health, e-education, etc.
An exhibition on e-services will be held on the sidelines of the conference and the venue will shift to the King Faisal Conference Hall. The conference will conclude on Jan. 17. Saudi Arabian Airlines, banks and a number of public and private-sector organizations will demonstrate the e-services they offer.
Dr. Al-Orainy pointed out that the e-government initiative is part of King Abdullah’s vision to transform Saudi society into an information society. It is spearheaded as a multifaceted program involving the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). Yesser will act as a facilitator for providing integrated e-government services involving all government agencies.
Al-Soma said the e-government program would benefit immensely from the input provided by both national and international speakers.
The first session, “The Strategic Continuum of e-Government” will be chaired by Prince Muqrin, head of general intelligence, who, as governor of Madinah, made important contributions to e-government in the holy city.
Amr Abdullah Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, will chair a session on public-private partnership. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel, governor CITC, and Steven Mills, senior vice president of IBM, will be among the featured speakers.
