Dubai e-Government: the great vision
Dubai e-Government�s new magazine e4all published an interview with General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defence Minister, in their first issue.
The following is a translation of the interview as it appeared in Al Bayan newspaper.
Question: Your Highness� achievements in various fields have amazed everyone. Many people wonder about the secret behind your success in everything that you undertake, whether it is leading the emirate and running its affairs or your personal hobbies - equestrianism, sports, poetry and literature. Where does your strong will come from and who is your greatest role model?
Sheikh Mohammed: His Highness Sheikh Zayed and my father, the late Sheikh Rashid, did not wait for history to be written, they made history. Let�s write history instead of waiting for other people to write about us.
Q: Dubai has, for many decades, been a well-known regional centre for trade. What does Your Highness want to contribute with the Dubai e-Government initiative?
SM: I want Dubai to be distinguished by its trade and economy in this digital age, just as it was known for trade in the past.
Q: We are seeing initiatives that are helping society convert to the digital age and there are questions about the eCitizen, eEmployee and e4all initiatives, the last of which includes the biggest IT companies and makes the latest IT more accessible to everyone. What is your goal?
SM: I want the Dubai e-Government team to be experts so that they can train and support government employees.
Q: What encouraged you to launch the e-Government initiative so early given that this government practice started in the mid-nineties and that only five years have passed since it was first launched and some developed countries still haven�t launched e-Government initiatives? What drove you to launch this initiative at this early stage?
SM: We want Dubai to be a hub for the New Economy, with the cooperation of IT companies and innovators. To achieve this, we had to revise our concept of government. I will lead this shift personally. We have always wanted to be at the forefront and the world is making this shift, so why not take the initiative and be one of the first to do so?
Q: What, in your opinion, is the importance of this step? And to what extent does Dubai need it?
SM: Our shift to e-Government is necessary if Dubai is to remain prosperous and if it is to be a destination for tourists.
Q: You gave this project a deadline of 18 months, which surprised many people, especially in a country that is still in the process of developing its technological infrastructure. On what did you base this deadline when other countries have 5-to-10 year plans?
SM: Man is full of potential. You have all seen how impressively our young people perform when given the opportunity.
Q: If we ask Your Highness to sum up your initiative and title it, what title would you choose?
SM: I want it to be a sincere attempt to make people�s lives easier and to facilitate companies� transactions.
Q: How does Your Highness feel after launching the first Arab e-Government? Do you think that because you were one of the first to announce this initiative, some parties will not act as quickly as is necessary?
SM: While what we have achieved is very important, it is still just the beginning. It is just the first step on a long and arduous path. We do not want to be misled by conceit or pride for having the first e-Government in the Arab world.
Q: Is there any mechanism to evaluate or control the government�s e-services and to measure how much the public benefits from these services?
SM: All government services and procedures should be in harmony with the modern digital economy. We should also improve the quality of the services rendered to the private sector and the public if we want Dubai to become a leading centre. To me, the most successful department is the one that deals with its clients electronically.
Q: Your Highness, you launched e-Government with 14 e-services and the number of e-services that the public benefits from has grown to 617, 211 of which are procedural and the rest of which are informative. How does Your Highness respond to those who were afraid that the initiative would fail, those who doubted that it would succeed, now that the number of services has increased 50 times in two years?
SM: Today, I am very proud of our young people, who have brought the e-Government up to this level, the level we wanted. You have heard how officials and directors are talking about it even though at the beginning they asked, �Where are we going?�.
Source: Al Bayan
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