RIYADH: Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has won the United Nations Public Service Award for the year 2008 for its service in the Sadad payment system.
Announcing the award at a press conference held yesterday at the SAMA headquarters, Sadad Executive Director Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh said that SAMA Governor Hamad Al-Sayari, received the award on behalf of his organization in New York on UN Public Service Day on June 23. Sadad was one of the 12 initiatives selected from a total of 180 submitted by 40 countries this year.
Accepting the award in New York, Al-Sayari had indicated that this achievement is attributed to the efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah who wants to make people’s life easier by enhancing public services including Sadad.
“Sadad has become a key component for government e-services and SAMA is currently working to expand the usage of this program to include additional sectors,” Al-Sheikh said.
He added that the system achieved international acceptance from users as more than 5 million transactions were made last month raising efficiency of the participating sectors and increasing competitiveness of the local economy. Al-Sheikh noted that Sadad has
treated more than 31 million transactions during the first half of this year at a value exceeding SR14 billion.
Riyad Moussa, resident representative of the United Nations in the Kingdom, described it as a prestigious award and pointed out that the Kingdom is the first Arab country to have won it in “Service Improvement” category in the West Asia region.
“The United Nations Public Service Award is considered the most prestigious international award dedicated to excellence in this field, contributing to the support of creative achievements in public service institutions around the world as well as aiming to enhance clarity and professionalism in this sector.”
Moussa mentioned that the award is aimed at raising the level of services provided to individuals in the public and private sectors and assisting service providers to reinforce professionals, support innovation, and improve the provision of general services throughout the world.
“The system has changed the public and private sector electronic payments in the Kingdom by successfully transforming more than 82 percent to electronic transactions through various banking channels which includes internet-based banking services, automated teller machines, phone banking, and point of sale outlets which have been launched recently,” Nezar A. Al-Mugren, Sadad business development manager, said.
He added that it had successfully linked 41 public and private sectors representing various sectors which include ministries, associations, municipalities, general services, telecommunications, insurance, airlines, media, installment, financial services, and universities.
“Work is underway to link other sectors in which the total number of organizations will reach 60 by the end of this year.”
