Millennium Development Goals (MDG) eNabler launched allowing countries ability to monitor and evaluate development programs and projects that take 'Advocacy to Action'
Abu Dhabi, 5 December 2010: Hosted by the Government of Abu Dhabi and organized by ADSIC under the leadership of His Excellency Rashid Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of ADSIC and chair of the Conference Organizing Committee, the 2010 United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development Forum (UN GAID) was inaugurated today (Sunday) by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research. Also present at the inauguration were His Excellency Dr. Talal Abu Ghazala, Chairman of GAID, Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister for Foreign Trade, His Excellency Mohammad Ahmad Al Bowardi, Secretary General of the Executive Council, His Excellency Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al-Khaili, Director General of Abu Dhabi Education Council, His Excellency Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh, Chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and Mr. Majed Al Mansoori, General Manager of Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi.
In his welcoming remarks, His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research said: "In my personal opinion, this international forum is calling for what we always seek to achieve here in the United Arab Emirates. As an emerging country, the United Arab Emirates seeks to be, and is committed to being at the forefront in uses of modern technologies. Abu Dhabi has become an important regional center for technology and innovation, particularly in the fields of sustainable technology, preserving the environment, diversifying sources of national income and in the dissemination of culture, science and quality of life improvements for the whole of the society."
"We are in the process of creating a unique and powerful, web-based engine and platform, the MDG eNabler, that will be made available to all countries free of cost as a one-stop-shop, where they can go to learn, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their development programs and projects," said H.E. Dr. Talal Abu Ghazala. "GAID, together with the help of all stakeholders, is creating for the United Nations, and for the entire world community, one very important and innovative means to deliver on the much bigger promise to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Now it is the task and responsibility of all of us to use it, nourish and develop it further and make it grow as a living animal so that it's value-added and edge can be sustained."
Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, presenting the keynote speech, said: "As GAID's theme for its annual meeting states, we need to move past advocate and take concrete and sustainable action to move towards our shared aspirations, particularly within the field of ICT. Use of ICT services has continued to grow throughout the world, despite the downturn and so our mission within the next two days is to find out how we can align our ICT activities with economic and social development."
As part of the inauguration of the Forum, senior representatives from the United Nations addressed the audience via statements read on their behalf. Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management, UN DESA spoke on behalf of Mr. Sha Zukang, Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs. Mr. Patrick Hayford, Director of the Office of the Special Advisor, spoke on behalf of Mr. Cheick Sidi Diarra, Under Secretary General, Special Advisor for Africa, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries. Professor Jeffery Sachs, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on the Millennium Development Goals addressed the audience via video statement.
"We are delighted to welcome the world's leading ICT minds to Abu Dhabi this week. This meeting is an opportunity to share best practice with like-minded delegations for the good of future development," said His Excellency Rashid Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of ADSIC and chair of the Conference Organizing Committee. "It is important that we can come together on occasions like this and discuss how IT updates, advanced tools and innovations can be harnessed in order to assist the process of sustainable development."
The Forum is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) and held under the sponsorship of the General Secretariat for the Executive Council. Additional panelists speaking throughout the forum include: H.E. Mr. Jānis Kārkliņš, Assistant Director General of Communication and Information of UNESCO; Elham Ibrahim Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union; Mohamed Al-Qaed CEO, eGovernment Authority of Bahrain; John Davies, Vice President of the Intel World Ahead Program for Intel Corporation; Stephen Dukker Chairman and CEO, NComputing and Ali AlMashat, Chairman of SRCSAT.
The two-day Forum will address the issues, challenges and opportunities for promoting the use of ICT to achieve internationally agreed development goals, including the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In particular, it will be an opportunity to assess the role played by education and innovation in sustainable development through the theme 'ICT for MDGs: Moving from Advocacy to Actions'. The series of plenary sessions and solutions salons will enable delegates to work towards setting the Global ICT for Development agenda priorities for the next two years. On the first morning of the Forum, His Excellency Ivo Ivanovski, Minister of Information Society from Macedonia formally presented the MDG eNabler to gathered delegates. This was followed by a number of interesting plenary discussions entitled: 'Reality Check - Information and Communication Technologies for Development: what is holding us back?' and 'MDG eNabler: A Call for Action - Share and Collaborate to Reach the MDGs'.
The 2010 Forum will mark the first in a series of forums Abu Dhabi will host on behalf of UN GAID over the next five years, establishing Abu Dhabi as the Middle East's regional hub for excellence in ICT for development. The establishment of a knowledge and innovation-based economy is at the heart of Abu Dhabi's Vision 2030, the strategic route map enabling Abu Dhabi to diversify its economy away from traditional hydrocarbons. The ICT for development framework is an important component in raising the quality of Abu Dhabi's e-government strategic framework to international standards that will assist in driving development towards a knowledge and innovation-based economy in the future.
The Forum will continue over the 5th and 6th December, attracting more than 200 delegates to participate in the full program. Alongside the Forum, Abu Dhabi will also host the World Summit Awards for Mobile Content Development. Awards will be presented in a gala dinner on the evening of the 6th December. An exhibition of winners and nominees will be open to members of the public from 5th December to 8th December at the Yas Marina Circuit Paddock Club.
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About Global Alliance for ICT and Development
The Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) was launched in 2006 as a global platform for putting the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) into effect, and promoting the use of ICT to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) was created as a committee in October 2005 by Executive Council Decree No. 33, issued by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and established as a centre in 2008 by Law No. 18. ADSIC's role is to develop, drive, and support various initiatives within the Government to transform government services in the Emirate. A key objective of this transformation is to establish a modern, efficient, and citizen-centric e-Government platform to match the best in the world.
The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre Mandate
The Centre is the governmental organization that is responsible for the IT agenda of the Emirate and has the authority to:
Supervise the implementation of the e-Government program in Abu Dhabi Government entities
Sponsor initiatives and mature assets and competencies that it deems of critical importance for the e-Government project
Propose policies and technology standards for government and relevant entities to achieve overall quality in reaching the highest levels of efficiency, confidentiality, and safety in the e-Government project
Issue rules and guidelines regarding the implementation of IT policies and technical specifications, and communicate them to all government entities
Submit the guidelines to the Council regarding the IT sector and the e-Government
For more information, please contact:
Batoul Al Husseini
Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre
Corporate PR Manager
P.O. Box: 3133
Tel: 02- 6961660; Fax: 02 6717333
E-mail: pr@adsic.abudhabi.ae
Web site: www.abudhabi.ae
© Press Release 2010
