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Five years after the launch of the mGovernment Project by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and his meeting with 1000 government officials to transform government services on smart phones within 24 months…the UAE has made a new achievement by reaching a leading position in the Online Services Index (OSI) in which it is ranked Sixth globally, as well as Second globally in the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), according to the E-Government Development Index (EDGI) Survey 2018 issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
According to the Online Services Index, the UAE is ranked the same as Sweden, and ahead of Spain, Canada, Germany the Netherlands, Estonia, Portugal and Russia. On the regional level, the UAE is ranked first in the Gulf, Arab and West Asia region.
In the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), the UAE is ranked ahead of South Korea, Britain, The United States, Canada, France and Denmark.
In this regards, H.E. Mohammad Abdulla Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, affirmed that “50 government entities have worked during 5 years to achieve the vision of Mohammed bin Rashid…The experience is an international model for all the world countries to benefit from.’ And he added: ‘The government, private and academic sectors have contributed to the development of the UAE smart services. The university students were the main motive for applications development. ‘
H.E. Al Gergawi added: ‘Five years after the launch of the mGovernment, the UAE has been able to serve as a role model for the region and the world, through seeking to keep abreast with the latest global practices in government work, achieving internationally advanced ranks in various government indecators, enhancing unique standards of government performance and adopting innovative solutions to meet the challenges, making the government work model a school in itself that many neighbouring and world countries seek to benefit from.’ H.E. continued: ‘The world and regional leading numbers achieved by the UAE reflect the progress of the country’s infrastructure as we stand on the threshold of a new era of artificial intelligence, internet of things, big data, auto-transportation and drones.’
In turn, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), said: ‘This result would not have been possible without the spirit of cooperation, dedication and hard work of all federal and local government entities, especially the participants in the Executive Team of the Online Services Index, which has succeeded in leading and coordinating efforts in this direction. With this result, we are proud of the trust of our wise leadership in us, and we recognize that the upcoming tasks are equally serious, and more difficult than the previous ones, as the competition will be with the top five countries in the world. However, today we are more determined to reach the goal because we have learned from our wise leadership that there is no substitute for the first place but the first place.’
Four levels
The Online Services Index (OSI) consists of four levels of service development. The first involves the emerging information services, which includes making information available online to the customers by the government. The second level involves enhancing information with more general policies, laws, regulations, reports and downloadable leaflets. The third level focuses on procedural services where the interaction is bi-directional between the government and the customer. The fourth and most advanced level is the level of connected services.
EDGI Survey 2018 issued by DESA, the UAE has achieved major progress in the overall e-government development index from the 29 position in 2016 to the 21 position in 2018. The UAE is now ranked among the top 25 countries in this index which monitors the progress level in the digital transformation process of world governments. The UAE is now ranked ahead of countries that have long been in the process of e-transformation including Canada, Italy and Ireland.
As a result of the progress achieved in the Online Services Index (OSI), the e-Participation Index, the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), and the Human Capital Index (HCI), the UAE is ranked 21st in the e-Government Development Index.
Remarkable Progress
In the e-Participation Index, The UAE has moved from the 32 rank in 2016 to the 17 rank in 2018, achieving an advancement of 15 international ranks, and becoming the first on the Gulf, Arab, and regional level. The UAE has exceeded Sweden, Ireland, Germany, Canada and Estonia.
The e-Participation Index is one of the complementary criteria of the UN survey. It measures the procedures used in each country to involve citizens in policy making, government decisions and the development of public services. This is done through three levels, starting with the level of information availability, level of public consultation, and then the level of decision making based on the results of the consultations and public participations.
This year’s UN EDGI survey coincides with elapse of three years since the launch of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is the focus of all the survey topics and sub-indicators. Among the topics of this year’s report is the use of digital technologies to improve meeting the challenges and enhancing the life quality in communities. This requires a high level of flexibility on the part of governments and their ability to adapt to emerging developments and technologies to provide the best and easiest services to individuals and businesses.
On the other hand, the report focuses on the partnership between the different sectors to carry the burden of digital transformation and government development to serve the community, as the successive technological developments are more challenging to be faced by one sector alone, and require a broad and high level of partnership and community interaction.
The UAE has a distinguished record in the field of sustainable development locally and internationally, and has contributions to all 17 sustainable development goals. The government team in charge of these goals follows-up on the progress in each track in line with the UAE global mission.
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