UAE to enhance federal websites for all-round eTransformation

The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) organised a meeting for website managers of federal government entities aimed at presenting the enhanced Web Guidelines 2012. Web guidelines are a set of recommendations that comply with international standards in this regard. The meeting comes in line with the role assigned to TRA to oversee eTransformation in the UAE and with Cabinet Decision no. (1/3/60) for 2012 in regards to approving the Federal eGovernment Plan 2012-2014. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has stressed that all federal government services must be transformed into eServices within two years. The Web Guidelines developed by the Information and eGovernment Sector at TRA are based on best practices in this regard with suggestions from international bodies such as the United Nations, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), etc. while taking into consideration local specifications and the requirements of the development towards eGovernment in the UAE. The government website evaluation team at TRA periodically assesses government websites and a prepares detailed reports on how much the websites adhere to these standards. The reports are sent to the government entities concerned so they in turn can address any necessary improvements needed in their websites in order to comply with the standards. The meeting discussed the Second Website Evaluation Report 2011 and the developed government website standards. The Information and eGovernment Sector team explained the steps they would take in evaluating the government websites in 2012. It also answered questions from the participants and addressed their remarks. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director General for Information and eGovernment Sector, TRA praised the level of cooperation and interaction of government entities in developing and enhancing their websites and portals. He said, "We appreciate the efforts of government entities and their keenness to develop their websites to the adopted standards." "Without their cooperation and the team work, the UAE wouldn't have achieved that great leap in the UN eGovernment Report 2012 where it jumped from rank 49 in 2010 to 28 globally," he added.