A Success Story of the UAE

Oct 21, 2013

The UAE’s digital ID card project has been a successful experience at all levels. It adopts the highest levels of excellence and quality and implements the world’s best practices. This helped make the Authority a reference for many countries and international entities. Highlights in this regard, is the memorandum of understanding recently signed between the Emirates Identity Authority and the United Nations based on which the UN will benefit from UAE’s experience in developing advanced identity programs globally. Under the MoU, Emirates ID and the UN will implement joint initiatives and projects in the field of sustainable development and boost knowledge society on the global level through organizing international conferences and workshops and conducting specialized researches.

There is no doubt that the attention given by the UAE to the digital ID project reflects the priority given to building up the information and statistics sector  in the country’s total development strategy. It also reflects the serious efforts exerted to convert plans, strategies and objectives in this respect into tangible actions on grounds. The progress witnessed by the UAE today requires development of IT and statistics sectors being vital elements linked to the different development plans and strategies.

The digital ID project with its integrated civil electronic biometric database, the world’s largest database within its population register, is very significant as it boosts UAE’s global position, helps achieve the UAE Vision 2021 aiming for UAE to become one the best countries in the world and contributes in realizing the objectives of the comprehensive and sustainable development. The database, standard procedures and comprehensive and accurate information provided by the project should help the country’s institutions and entities to organize their policies and set up their various plans that require availability of a highly authenticated information, particularly those related to workforces and demography, keeping up to the requirements of economic development and its plans in various sectors.

The Emirates Identity Authority has become a model for excellence and success. It  has won several local and international awards and certificates in recognition of its successes and innovations in the smart identity and information security fields. Among the awards was the ‘BIZZ 2013 Award’ granted annually by the World Confederation of Business in appreciation for its role in establishing a modern population database for the UAE that supports streamlining services of both public and private sectors. Emirates ID has also won the ‘Quality Achievements Award’ granted by the European Society for Quality based in Switzerland, and the ‘ICT Leadership Award’, part of the Middle East Business Leaders Summit and Awards during the 4th edition of the Middle East Business Leaders Summit and Awards 2013 held in Abu Dhabi. In September 2013, His Highness General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the UAE and Chairman of Emirates ID, received, on behalf of Emirates ID, 3 ISO certificates issued by the British Standards Institution: (ISO 9001 – Quality Management System), (ISO 27001 – Information Security Management System) and (The International Customer Service Standard TICSS).