The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has hosted the 22ndmeeting of the Executive Team of the National Online Services Index, one the indicators of the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda. The OSI Executive Team includes representatives of 11 federal and local government entities.
This meeting aims to review the achievements of the plan based on the six phases’ concept (O6). The plan represents the roadmap for the UAE to reach the third position globally by mid this year, based on four pillars: simulating expectations at the local government level, addressing the challenges of the OSI, the impact of soft power, and application of innovation factors. The plan was divided into four phases, six weeks each, where the sub-teams are assigned with a list of tasks to be completed before moving on to a new phase of six more weeks. These tasks constitute a participatory work program among the relevant government entities.
On this meeting, H.E. Salem Al Housani, Acting Deputy Director General for Information and eGovernment Sector and Leader of the OSI Executive Team, said: “During our meeting, we focused on ways to enhance the application of the principles and directions of the government's system of excellence, including exploring all future opportunities, contributing to the development of government entities that are proactive and flexible to achieve readiness for the future through innovation and modernity, and contributing to achieving the principles of economic, social and environmental sustainability. During our discussions, we focused on the concepts and values of digital participation, open data and the provision of high quality services, through which we can create the global competitiveness advantage that allows us to achieve one of the top three global positions according to the United Nations’ OSI. These principles have been adopted by TRA, and led it to excellence in the implementation of the national agenda objectives in the previous two sessions. During the meeting, we also discussed the implementation of the O6 Action Plan. The results are scheduled to be evaluated by mid-July. The main objectives of this plan were discussed, and ways to accelerate the work and achieve the pending tasks before the evaluation phase."
Al Housani praised the hard work and efforts made by the team since its establishment in December 2016. He added: “We reviewed during this meeting the most important stages of the National OSI Team, and its most important accomplishments. Among the most important of these stages is the extraordinary meeting with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, When he launched the official and supporting portals. This launch was followed by the formation of the task forces, the hosting of regional experts, and the organization of specialized workshops. The Deira system was launched in order to monitor the achievement of the national agenda goals, especially the OSI. This system includes everything related to minutes of meeting, presentations and others. "
During the meeting, the participants discussed the possible ways to achieve the goals of the O6 Plan and to meet the targets before reaching the evaluation stage. The meeting also discussed the initiatives launched to promote e-participation in response to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Which aim to ensure that the practices of the UAE government are the standard practices adopted by the rest of the world, such as the UAE Hackathon, the Interactive Lab, SDGs Buzz, and the Smart Government Maturity Model.
The OSI Executive Team contains representatives of 11 federal and local government entities. Its priorities include providing a sustainable environment and an integrated infrastructure, in addition to achieving the planned objectives on the international level. The team uses the latest global trends in the e-government survey, i.e. bridging the digital gap, open data, enhancing the usage, several service channels, inter-connected government and e-participation.