On Wednesday 22nd May 2013, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, DIFC in Dubai, UAE, the 19th GCC e-Government and e-Services Conference was successfully concluded under the title “Towards the fourth generation of eGovernment and eServices”. The 5-days Conference, organized by Datamatix and sponsored by Naseej, highlighted the GCC’s advanced technologies and initiatives in the fields of e-Government and e-Services which were enhanced by the presence, participation and partnerships of regional and global institutions, 30 regional and global keynote speakers, 500 decision-makers to enhance the culture of e-transformation, sharing experience, application of the best practices as well as highlighting the regional and global success stories to build futuristic strategic plans towards the eGovernment and Services Development.
The conference hosted a number of other events in conjunction, including the GCC eGov ICT Exhibition, GCC Search Engine Launch, the Middle East eGovernment and e-Service Excellence Awards, Highlighting Cyber Crime and much more. The Conference also announced the GCC eMaturity Report 2013 which assessed the ICT developments in the GCC region; featuring various factors of the GCC eGevrnment and ICT infrastructure readiness as well as the challenges faced in implementing these initiatives. The eMaturity Report provided statistics showing that GCC countries have maintained leadership in eGovernment readiness among other Pan Arab and North African countries.
Commenting on the GCC advancement towards the 4th generation of eGovernment Development; Eng. Abdullah Al Turaifi Naseej V.P., stated; “The Conference offered an extensive opportunity of mutual evaluation of eGovernment policies and e-Services, and practical development of the added-value in ICT sectors to enhance comprehensive and sustainable development in GCC region. The Conference provided an excellent platform where ICT systems were harmonized with infrastructure development needs.”