Important results highlighted from the 8th GCC eGovernments Committee Meeting

Dr. Zakaria Ahmed Al Khaja, Director of standards, Quality and Procedures Engineering at the eGovernment Authority, during the 8th meeting of the Committee on e-government in the State of Kuwait.

The 8th GCC eGovernment Committee Meeting held in Kuwait included the joint Gulf framework for e-Procurement consideration.

Attending on behalf of the eGovernment Authority CEO, Dr. Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja, Director of Standards, Quality and Procedures Engineering at the eGovernment Authority, attended the eighth meeting of the Heads of the GCC Countries eGovernment Authorities and programs in the GCC countries, which was held in the State of Kuwait, under the chairmanship of HE Mr. Salim Bin Khamis Al-Shair Director-General of the General Authority of Information, United Arab Emirates.
The meeting came out with a number of important recommendations about the e-Government program at the level of the GCC countries, along with discussion of developments on the issues that were addressed and approved at the previous meeting.

The committee was briefed on the recommendations of the Working Groups which was formed to study the cooperation and coordination of the procurement process and software licenses negotiations. It was agreed that member states shall exchange information and experiences about frameworks and framework agreements for IT products prepared or which shall be prepared to take advantage and make the best use of them, in order to conclude a collective e-procurement procedure at the level of the Gulf States.

The aim of these efforts is to promote cooperation among the Gulf States with regard to information technology and communications. It also aims to exchange experiences in the implementation of joint projects, such as the Guidelines for the conclusion of framework agreements prepared by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the framework agreements concluded or to be concluded by the Member States with international ITC companies and other procedures for the procurement processes in all Member States to formulate a unified Gulf framework for e-procurement.

With regards to the developments of the proposals put forward in the Committee's previous 7th meeting, Dr. Zakareya pointed out that the proposal, the formation of a ministerial committee for ministers concerned with eGovernment projects in the Member States, was on the top of the agenda topics due to its importance in promoting the GCC joint action and activation of Gulf e-linkage.

During the meeting, a proposal was also put forward, a website for the Gulf e-government Committee, which was prepared by the United Arab Emirates, to strengthen the process of communication for e-government programs among the GCC. The committee approved the proposal, which would contribute to the exchange of successful experiences and joint coordination to implement joint projects.

The Committee recommended to the Secretariat to register a domain (gcc) to be used for all the websites and portals belonging to the GCC countries and obtain letters of support from Member States to be submitted to the Internet authorities for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

The proposal on (the exchange of visits among personnel of e-government programs) was widely welcomed, as the Committee expressed its encouragement for the exchange of visits in the Member States in order to benefit from the experience of every country in areas of e-government programs, thus contributing to the enrichment of shared experiences.

Dr Zakaryea Al Khaja said that the Committee discussed, The 2ND GCC eGovernemnt Conference & Exhibition awards timeframe which will be in November, along with the frameworks, criteria and indicators for assessment of this award, and in light of the recommendations of the working group formed for this purpose and consultation of Member States. The five branches of the award were agreed upon as well as adding, the best Arabic content Award to the categories of the award at its third session.

The criteria for evaluating e-government Award at its second session (2011) was agreed and it was decided that the State of Kuwait will prepare the criteria within two weeks and update the five branches of the Award. The final version shall be submitted to Member States for review.

The Gulf Conference for the e-Government is a proposal from the Kingdom of Bahrain which was put forward during the first meeting of the heads of e-government authorities and programs in the GCC countries, which was held in Bahrain to exchange experiences and successful projects among GCC countries.

The next meeting of GCC heads of e-government authorities and programs is scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates during the month of May 2011.

-ameinfo.com