The Middle East Excellence Awards Institute has announced its adoption of the slogan “ID and Updated Information Culture” on the last day of the 17th GCC eGovernment & eServices Conference during a ceremony held to honor the winners of the Middle East eGovernment & eServices Excellence Awards. The ceremony, which was organized by the institute at Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai today (Wednesday), was attended by decision-makers, eGovernment and IT project managers, mass media and the participants.
In his address to the ceremony, H.E. Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, who is the guest of honor of the awards, said he and the Emirates Identity Authority were happy about the selection by the organizing committee of the awards of the slogan “ID and Updated Information Culture” to be the main slogan of the closing day of the conference and the honoring ceremony of the 16th Middle East eGovernment & eServices Excellence Awards, in appreciation by the organizing committee of the Emirates Identity authority’s strategy and initiatives.
Al Khouri stressed the Emirates Identity Authority’s keenness on playing its role in disseminating the culture of developing and updating the information content of individuals and nationals as part of its civilized orientation towards information technology. The Emirates Identity Authority’s keenness is based on its success in translating its mode of thinking and vision and applying the digital knowledge philosophy by intensively pushing towards updating the ID data and positively adapting to the information and communication technology (ICT), which nowadays affects the orientations of politics, economy and centers of decision-making and influence worldwide, he added.
Al Khouri clarified that the selection of the “ID and Updated Information Culture” as the main slogan for the honoring ceremony is an honor to the mode of thinking that the Emirates Identity Authority adopts and seeks to apply, noting that the Emirates Identity Authority is an efficient player and a strategic partner for all government entities in charge of eGovernments in the UAE, which work together for upgrading eGovernment and eServices and keeping pace with global competitiveness with the aim of keeping abreast of the developments of the digital world “we live in” and contributing to building a robust IT community and a knowledge-based economy.
The Emirates Identity Authority is taking firm steps towards translating its mode of thinking, vision and mission and achieving its objectives as mentioned in its strategy 2010-2013, he said.
He added: “We are working diligently to assimilate the huge information revolution and deal with the accelerating modern technologies of communication. We are also keen on adapting to modernism and contributing to developing the thinking, science and technology system while seeking to narrow the digital gap with the aim of reaching the knowledge community and consolidating the information society.”
Al Khouri concluded: “It is fair to say that the 17th GCC eGovernment & eService Conference, which was organized by Datamatix, succeeded to a great extent in substantiating that the governments of the region attach great importance to the eGovermment project. In addition, the participating working papers showed that the GCC countries were determined to achieve their ambitions of becoming among the world’s advanced countries through achieving sustainable development in information technology and completing the eTransformation effectively and efficiently with the aim of ensuring continuous excellence in building the information society and setting up the digital knowledge-based economy.”
Meanwhile, Ali Al Kamali, Director General of Datamatix and the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute, thanked the guest of honor Al Khouri as well as all the attendees, participants and media personalities from international IT organizations and companies and media establishments for their efforts to make a success of the conference and award distribution ceremony.
The award is characterized by being the first of its kind in the region that tracks excellent performance with the aim of seeking technological knowledge and culture on the one hand and giving and developing new creative ideas for the region on the other, he said. He noted that the award aims at creating a climate of quality-based competition among the individuals and government and economic organizations in the region in line with the international evaluation criteria at a time the region is witnessing new economic and technological developments and events that would bring about an essential change in the regional and global technological and economic map and help achieve economic development.
He clarified that the ICT has elements of strength that can force a change in the modes of work and management in government departments with the aim of upgrading performance and saving money and effort. The modern electronic boom allows the possibility for nationals and the society to take part in discussing policies through direct dialogue, decision-making support and formulation of policies that show more understanding of the individuals and the economy, he said.
Al Kamali pointed out that the award focused on the achievements of eGovernment and the relevant services in the region; on how to be a standard for the region’s excellence at the international level; on its role in making a change in the relationships among government organizations; and on the services it provides to nationals, residents or the economic sector in terms of its ability to allow more information and the best performance in the provision of services to support the national economy. He noted that the nominees for the award were evaluated as per the efforts exerted in developing eGovernment and eServices projects in the region.
Later, Al Khouri honored the winners as follows:
e-Service Excellence Award: This award was granted to Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) and was received by Saeed Mohanned Al Tayer, DEWA Managing Director and CEO.
Best e-Initiative Excellence Award: This award was granted to Oman’s Ministry of Education and was received by Abdullah Nasser Al Bahrani, Assistant General Manager of the Directorate General of Information Technology for Digital Services.
e-Solutions Provider Excellence Award: This award was granted to Microsoft and was received by Samer Abu-Latif, Regional General Manager of Microsoft.
e-Government Portal Excellence Award: This award was granted to Dubai eGovernment Department, UAE and was received by Sumaia Hammad, Director of Communication & Business Development Department.
e-Banking Excellence Award: This award was granted to three banks in the GCC countries; namely:
- Al Rajhi Bank Saudi Arabia: The award was received by Taher Butt, Head of Online and Mobile Banking/Senior Manager.
- Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Kingdom of Bahrain: The award was received by Rashad Ahmed Akbari, Assistant General Manager for Transactional Banking.
- Emirates NBD Bank: This award was received by Fuad Mohammed, Vice President IT.
e-Payment Excellence Award: This award was granted to SADAD Payment System at Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and was received by Eng. Abdul Malik Bin Abdul Rahman Al Sheikh, SADAD Payment System CEO.
Information and Knowledge Portal Excellence Award: This award was granted to Al-Riyadh Newspaper and was received by Ali Al Quhais, Regional Manager.
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