According to the 2014 World Economic Forum Report
The UAE ranks 2nd worldwide
in government ICT use
The UAE government ranked first in the
Middle East & Africa region and ranked
second internationally in the government
ICT use index, according to the Global
Information Technology Report 2014 re-
leased by the World Economic Forum
(WEF).
The UAE also ranked second in 2013
jumping 30 places from its ranking the
previous year on the same index, ren-
dering this achievement significant in
light of the largest recorded jump in the
Government Usage of ICT index in the
report this year. This achievement came
due to a number of initiatives and policies
launched by the government, foremost
among which is the smart government
initiative.
Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Qamzi, Chair-
man of Telecommunication Regulatory
Authority (TRA) and Member of the High-
er Committee to Activate the Government
Smart Initiative said that this achieve-
ment reflects the high priority that the
UAE gives to the development of IT infra-
structure and usage. He added that that
the ranking is an evidence that the UAE
government abides by the smart govern-
ment initiative launched by His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Mak-
toum, Vice-President and Prime Minister
of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Hamad Al Mansouri, Director-General of
UAE Smart Government, said ICT report
this year reflects the progress attained by
the federal government in changing the
ICT usage not only at the regional level
but also at the world level. It also confirms
the wise vision to start e-transformation
as early as possible, which contributed in
achieving this top ranking for the UAE.
Al Mansouri stressed that the UAE smart
government has already started imple-
menting its four-tier strategy with the aim
to achieve a knowledge and IT-based
change. Such change will lead to higher
use of smart services by the public as well
as adopting such type of services as a
main channel for customers. This should
ultimately achieve the vision of the wise
leadership in making people lives easier,
and save time and costs in offering public
services.
According to this year’s results, the UAE
ranked 24th in the report’s general rank-
ing, jumping one place from last year’s
ranking. The UAE also jumped two plac-
es, ranking 1st at the Arab level and 5th
internationally with regard to IT impact on
society. This reflects the success of the
UAE public and private sectors and the
degree of openness, transparency and
trust enjoyed by the government services
for both individuals and organizations in
the UAE.
The report, covering 148 countries, is
based on a four key criteria in assessing
the readiness of countries to deal with in-
formation technology, which include: ICT
environment, readiness, usage, and im-
pact of information technology. Finland,
Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands,
and Norway took the first five positions
respectively in the general ranking of the
report.
Through such criteria, the report mea-
sures the availability of an environment
allowing the development and usage of
ICT and promoting its applications across
the various public and private sectors. It
also measures a number of economic
factors such as regulatory legislations,
infrastructure and informatics, business
and investment sector as well as the ap-
plication of such technologies by govern-
ment agencies in their day-to-day activi-
ties.
Reports
