McGill academic describes Canada as a 'truly connected country'
Press Release
Embargo — 25 May 2006
McGill academic describes Canada as a 'truly connected country' to e-government summit in the UAE
The e-Government Forum was set up to be a platform for knowledge sharing and interaction, enabling e-government experts to present global case studies in order to assist Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to implement and manage e-government strategies.
Montreal — International and GCC regional experts evaluated the success of various e-government projects in both GCC and other countries at the summit held from 20 to 24 May 2006 in Dubai. The event, organized by the Datamatix Group, addressed the issues and challenges facing e-government implementation in the region.
At the summit, speakers with real experience in e-government presented case studies and highlighted e-government success stories. International e-government experts analyzed a number of strategies which may help Gulf region states in their efforts to catch up with the rest of the world in e-governance. On the concluding day, the regional summit focused on the characteristics of Global Leading Cities and the fundamentals of transforming the GCC cities into truly global ones by introducing the necessary technological infrastructure to support modern government services.
Datamatix's Managing Director, Ali Al Kamali, summarized the summit's objectives in the following words: "to discuss a wide range of issues such as e-government, ROI, e-readiness, workforce development, m-government, integrated services, change management, online service delivery, redesigning e-government business and citizen services, GCC infrastructure, security issues and much more."
Speakers at the summit included key ICT decision-makers, senior government officials, business leaders, diplomats, academics and researchers with an interest in the future of e-government and e-government policy. Keynote sessions were given by experts from the GCC and other countries, among whom were Mr. Bjarne Rasmussen (Computer Associates), Mr. Donald Blair (Experton Group ME), Dr. Salim Sultan Al-Ruzaiqi (Ministry of National Economy, Sultanate of Oman), Dr. Niels Pagh Rasmussen (National IT and Telecom Agency, Denmark), Dr. Mila Gascó-Hernández (International Institute on Governance, Barcelona, Spain), Dr. Zahra Al-Rawahi (Chairperson, Computer & Information Technology, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman), Dr. Salim Edde (Cisco Systems International, Middle East), Dr. Sulaiman Al Harthy (Directorate General of Civil Status, Sultanate of Oman) and McGill University's Director of Translation Studies, Dr. James Archibald.
A member of the Canadian delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Dr. Archibald spoke on Canada's emergent e-government strategies. Noting that Canada is "a truly connected country," his case study focused on Canadian e-government strategies which are "independent of, yet compatible with, WSIS's goals."
In his view, "this is the result of the country's commitment to diversity. Bringing Canadians together through e-government strategies for development both nationally and internationally has enhanced development in education, health and business. Meeting attainable goals is clearly the result of multi-stakeholder partnerships where governments, the private sector and civil society have worked together to modernize the State and enhance competitiveness. Canada's emerging successes may well be emulated by other progressive states as the world strives to respect the commitments made in Tunis in 2005."
This e-government summit came at a time when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced a new strategic orientation expected to enhance the UAE's leadership in development projects and e-government.
At such a crucial point in time, this summit focused on the status of UAE e-government projects and helped set the pace for future e-government development in the region. The forum served to facilitate key development projects in e-government, technology selection, building a service-oriented e-government infrastructure, IT skills training and education, mobile government, content management and portal design.
The synergy of both foreign and GCC expertise should contribute to the future prosperity of the region.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact:
Datamatix Group
Tel: +971 4 332 6688
Fax: +971 4 332 8223
E-mail: info [at] datamatixgroup.com
URL: www.datamatixgroup.com
Translation Studies, McGill University
Tel.: 514-398-1484
Fax: 514-398-1769
E-mail: katherine.peacock [at] mcgill.ca