Abu Dhabi, September 18, 2011 - Emirates eGovernment, today, began the process of assessing the applications from the UAE government entities to participate in GCC eGovernment Award. Emirates eGovernment has received 34 applications from 21 federal and local government entities. The results of the award will be announced at the second GCC eGovernment Conference to be held in Kuwait from 13 to 15 November 2011.

H. E. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Director General, Emirates eGovernment, praised the enthusiasm of the entities in sending their applications. He appreciated their adherence to deadlines for nomination and the quality of projects submitted. He said, "The high quality of projects submitted for participation will make the jury's task to choose the projects to represent UAE difficult. Winning the award is not the goal; but reviewing our progress and raising our level of competency is what we aim to achieve by inviting the federal and local government agencies to participate in the GCC eGovernment Award."

Emirates eGovernment is responsible for receiving nominations from the UAE federal and local government bodies, reviewing them to ensure they conform to the entry criteria as specified and then submitting the nominations for evaluation by the jury.

The jury members include representatives from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in the UAE, Emirates eGovernment, Dubai School of Government and Gartner Inc.

This year, the GCC eGovernment Award will be presented in five categories. These are Best eService, Best eContent, Best Federal Portal, Best Portal in Development Sector and Best G2G Project.

In the category of Best eService, Emirates eGovernment received 12 applications. These are from the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Public Works, Dubai Courts, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs-Dubai (DNRD), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zakat Fund, Roads and Transport Authority Dubai (RTA), Dubai Municipality and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).

In the category of Best eContent, Emirates eGovernment received nine applications. These are from Securities and Commodities Authority, Dubai Chamber, the Ministry of Economy, Dubai eGovernment, the Ministry of Public Works, Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, and Dubai Municipality.

In the category of Best G2G project, Emirates eGovernment received 10 applications. These are from Dubai Statistics Center (DSC), Securities and Commodities Authority, Ministry of Labour, Dubai eGovernment, Roads and Transport Authority Dubai, Emirates Identity Authority, Abu Dhabi Western Region Municipality, General Civil Aviation Authority and Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre.

In the category of Best Portal in Development Sector, Emirates eGovernment received three applications. These are from Securities and Commodities Authority, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre and General Civil Aviation Authority.

The UAE federal portal www.government.ae will represent the nation in the fifth category, which is the Best Federal Portal.

Emirates eGovernment had dedicated a website for receiving nominations from government entities in the UAE to participate in the Award. The website http://gcceaward.gia.gov.ae  provides all the information needed to take part in the Award.

Emirates eGovernment works in line with the strategy of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and is responsible for formulating and overseeing the implementation of the eGovernment strategy on the federal level, ensuring robust shared infrastructure for federal government entities, and enhanced government services.

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Emirates eGovernment launched the UAE federal portal www.government.ae to bring all eServices provided by the UAE federal and local government bodies under one umbrella. The aim of the portal is to provide more and better online services to the people of the UAE and involve them in the government's policies, laws, and public interest initiatives with the ultimate goal of achieving transparency. The function of the official portal is to act as a single window or a single entry-point for users to access the different federal and local government eServices. The portal also facilitates to boost communication between the customers and the government representatives and eParticipation through forums, blogs, surveys, polls and social media.

© Press Release 2011