eOman launched
MUSCAT — Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, minister of commerce and industry, yesterday launched eOman, the Sultanate of Oman’s digital society initiative from the Information Technology Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of National Economy, during a ceremony attended by members of the royal family, ministers, undersecretaries, diplomats, IT professionals, leading public and private sector officials and dignitaries.The event, held at Al Bustan Palace Hotel, also marked the unveiling of the eOman logo and the launch of Arif, the official mascot of eOman, along with the launch of the official eOman website — www.itec.gov.om — in an innovative manner. A multimedia film showcasing Oman’s foray into e-Government, various eOman initiatives and their benefits was also screened.
eOman is founded on His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s progressive vision to transform the Sultanate into a knowledge society and build a knowledge-based economy.
Spearheaded by the Information Technology Technical Secretariat (ITTS) of the Ministry of National Economy in association with various public and private sector entities, eOman aims at creating an effective government-community-citizen infrastructure that provides better public services to people, resulting in a meaningful information flow between the government and citizens.
“eOman will offer every citizen, business and government entity a wide variety of convenient, cost-effective and customer-oriented electronic services that will empower and transform life for the better,” said Mohammed Nasser Al Khusaibi, secretary-general of Ministry of National Economy, on the occasion. Khusaibi said the Digital Oman strategy stressed the need for creating awareness among the public about the potentials of harnessing ICT in all walks of life. He noted that increasing the IT awareness, spreading IT literacy, capacity building for manpower will be addressed carefully in the implementation of Digital Oman.
Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, head of ITTS and member of the IT Executive Committee, spoke about the status of the government infrastructure, the various projects undertaken by the ITTS and their progress. He also provided an update of the existing as well as forthcoming e-Services under the umbrella of eOman.
“eOman is a momentous initiative of the government of Oman in its march ahead to transform the nation and empower its citizens towards building a knowledge society.
Creating and awareness about the potentials of information and communication technologies is the prime focus of eOman. To this epic task we have reached yet another milestone since the establishment of the Digital Oman strategy in 2003,” he said. Empowering the human resource of Oman with information communication technology skills is seen as a main pillar in the IT strategy for Oman. The implementation of the strategy carefully addresses the bridging the digital divide between the technology-enabled and the other communities of the society. Towards this eOman shall reach various focus groups of Oman in their region and conduct both IT awareness as well as literacy campaigns. The awareness of e-Services offered by the public and private sectors is also seen as prime success factor in the implementation of Digital Oman strategy. eOman takes this mission forward and ensures the success of this implementation.
Leveraging ICT power for economic and social benefit is eOman’s greatest goal. Integrating government departments to provide more efficient public services, increasing IT literacy, developing the economy through smart electronic services, creating local knowledge industries, and minimising the digital divide are some initiatives undertaken by eOman.
The eOman logo unveiled at the function highlights the promising future ushered by e-government in Oman. Arif, the friendly eOman mascot, will play a crucial role over the months communicating with people about the immense opportunities and advantages offered by eOman. The eOman website will support Arif in communicating the various electronic services with citizens, businesses and government.
The Information Technology Technical Secretariat will conduct road shows shortly. These road shows comprise seminars and e-Government-orientation sessions in the governorates and regions of Oman to initiate public awareness of eOman and empower people with IT literacy.
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