Dubai, Oct 12th, 2011 (WAM)--Dubai eGovernment has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Noor Dubai Foundation on the sidelines of GITEX Technology Week 2011 in Dubai, coinciding with the World Sight Day 2011.

The MoU aims to exchange their experiences between the two parties in the field of Information Technology and eServices.

The MOU was signed by Ahmed Humaidan, Director General, Dubai eGovernment, and Dr. Manal Taryam, CEO & Member of the Board of Trustees, Noor Dubai Foundation.

Humaidan said, "We are pleased to expand our ePay network of partners, whose faith in our secure ePay technology will lead to greater adoption of eServices by our customers, ensuring a connected and integrated government approach. Thanks to our ePay portal, our customers find it very convenient to pay for government transactions online, using credit cards or direct debit from their participating banks."He pointed out that the amounts collected through the ePay portal rose by 52 per cent to AED 2.66 billion through 2 million transactions over the first nine months of this year compared with AED 1.75 billion through 1.26 million transactions in the same period last year.

World Sight Day 2011 (WSD11) has the official, global date of the second Thursday in October, and this year it falls on the 13th of October. It will be marked and celebrated by organizations and institutions around the world, in many different ways, on or around that date.

An estimated 284 million people worldwide are visually impaired, yet 80 per cent of cases are due to causes which could have been prevented, treated or cured. 90 per cent of blind people live in developing countries, and this needlessly costs individuals, families and communities billions of dollars every year.

Dr. Manal Taryam, said, "The World Health Organization estimates that 39 million individuals are blind, and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment. Yet 80 per cent of blindness is avoidable. Almost 65 per cent of visually impaired people are over 50 years of age and 19 million children are visually impaired. The figures are alarming and if nothing is done these figures will continue to increase pushing the world gradually into more suffering and disability".

"The MoU is a step forward towards the UAE's efforts in the prevention of blindness, and the ability to facilitate an online contribution system that is both safe and user-friendly which makes contributing to prevention of blindness accessible to everyone", she added.

"It costs us $8 (USD) to treat a person from blindness and $4 (USD) to help another overcome his visual disability by simply providing eye glasses," Dr. Taryam added.

The two sides have agreed to cooperate in a number of fields that aim at facilitating online contribution and donations and eServices for awareness and fund raising. According to the MoU, Dubai eGovernment will develop an online payment portal for fundraising as part of the cloud services it offers to charity entities in the UAE. The Dubai eGovernment will also provide the necessary training for the Noor Dubai Foundation employees to manage the portal for other awareness campaigns.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.