The activities of the 19th Meeting of the GCC e-Government Executive Committee has started today in the Qatari capital Doha, with the participation of the UAE represented by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authorities (TRA).

Commenting on this participation, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: “Our participation in this meeting confirms the importance of the cooperation and coordination efforts between the GCC countries in all smart/e-Government related matters. This meeting constitutes a significant opportunity allowing us to draw the smart/e-Government strategy for the next phase, through identifying priorities and challenges as well as finding the right solutions that serve the highest interests of the GCC countries. The International Information and Telecommunications Sector is witnessing successive and rapid changes, which require the development of mechanisms and strategic flexible plans that could be implemented immediately with high efficiency.”

“The UAE proposal on establishing a training academy is among the compatible solutions with the UAE vision in enabling the generations and providing them with the needed qualifications to be more efficient and effective in serving the sustainable development efforts, not only on the GCC level but also in the entire Arab Region. This academy provides an online learning platform compatible with the developments and updates, as the internet usage rates in GCC have reached 60%, which is about 28 million users, while on the Arab level, the rates have reached 51% with 197 Internet users. These numbers confirm the need to e-learning platforms as well as their impact on economic and social life of a large segment of the region’s residents.” H.E. Al Mansoori added.

Training Academy: UAE proposal

The meeting Agenda includes discussing the UAE working paper on establishing a virtual academy for e-Government training. This aims to build a diversified knowledge-based economy lead by national expertise, to ensure the achievement of sustainable development in the UAE. Establishing this Academy comes in line with the GCC’s vision in developing and supporting the human resources, which have an important national value to the GCC countries, in addition to bridging the gap between the higher-education outputs and the labor market requirements.

The Meeting Agenda also includes the discussion of several topics and working papers submitted by member states, most importantly, the General Secretariat report on the implementation of the Committee’s previous meeting decisions. The discussion also covers the topic of supporting ICT industry in the GCC, e-learning, database of suppliers and service providers, the General Secretariat memo on the evaluation of state members of the fiber-optic project provided by the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA), the cooperation with the EU in ICT, and the completion of the preparations for the 5th Ministerial Committee’s meeting.

The UAE Delegation includes Salem Al Housani, TRA Deputy Director General of Information and e-Government Sector, Majid Almadhloum, Manager of the Center of Digital Innovation (CoDI), and a number of officials. This meeting coincides with the QITCOM 2017, which will be held in Doha during the period 6-8 March 2017.