GCC e-Participation and e-Governance Forum concludes in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi played host to more than 150 high-level Government and information and communication industry delegates from around the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations at the 2nd edition of the GCC e-Participation '&' e-Governance Forum from 9-11 September 2013. Held at Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi, the event brought together experts and practitioners responsible for driving e-Government development in the region to discuss experiences, challenges and opportunities in developing successful e-Government strategies and solutions. In light of the impressive rate of development and significant time and resources invested in initiatives across the region, which has placed GCC countries amongst the top in the world for e-government development, the event provided a platform for authorities to exchange ideas in digitizing government services and to leverage the power of ICT to spur growth, development and competitiveness of the Arab countries. It was organized by the Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group with support of its Federal e-Government Partner, the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority's Information and e-Government Sector and Hosting Partner, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC). The three-day forum featured a well-balanced agenda of key note speeches, panel discussions, streamed sessions, workshops and case-studies. Delivering the opening address on the inaugural day of the forum, AbdulKarim Al Raeesi, Director of Strategy and Planning at ADSIC outlined Abu Dhabi government's journey on the path of e-transformation and the role of ADSIC in promoting ICT as a catalyst for good governance and national development. Al Raeesi said, "In the journey of Abu Dhabi's e-government, our first priority was to put in place a solid ICT infrastructure to automate work processes and reduce operational inefficiencies. Our objective was to improve service delivery by moving many public services online, which we have achieved over the last eight years. "Behind-the scenes, what we are creating today is an integrated Government of the highest caliber that seeks to work seamlessly to serve the public's needs and shift towards a knowledge-based economy. In both respects, we have achieved good progress, and are now setting our sights on more ambitious goals", said Al Raeesi on ADSIC's future plans. Through an interactive plenary session involving Dr. Eng. Ali Al Khouri, Director General, Emirates Identity Authority, UAE; Hammad Al Mansoori, Deputy Director for Information '&' eGovernment, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, UAE and AbdulKarim Al Raeesi, Director, Strategy '&' Planning at Abu Dhabi Systems '&' InformationCentre, UAE; the forum examined steps for e-government development in the GCC to review the overall progress and direction of e-government programs in the region and ways to overcome the key current and future challenges we are likely to face. Day one of this forward-looking forum also featured valuable viewpoints and discussions from the region's e-government and technology experts on integrating e-government services to deliver value andimplementing e-transformation through e-participation. The second day of the forum had ADSIC's Business Information Manager, Khaled Al Mazrouei discuss the use of smart applications and processes to enable e-participation with a special focus on the recently launched CityGuard mobile application that encourages public participation in resolving issues and incidents in the city. Through presentations and speeches, speakers also evaluated the benefits of developing mobility in e-services, successfully utilizing social media to engage citizens and securing government and citizen information. During the day, two panel sessions examined benefits and challenges with social media and enabling big data analytics for smart government respectively. The third day of the forum provided attendees the option to take advantage of one of the two informative and interactive workshops - on 'Transforming e-government using big data analytics' and 'Developing an effective social media strategy'.