The number of users of the official portal of the UAE government reached more than 5.5 million during the first half of 2020, a 50% increase over 2019. The portal has been visited nearly 8 million times, with more than 12.5 million page views.
The portal provides information and services of interest to citizens, residents, visitors and investors, and serves as the first reference for government information on the Internet. Portal visitors come to check government developments, laws, policies, services and trends.
Mr. Salem Al Housani, Acting Deputy Director General of the Information and mGovernment Sector, and Chairman of the Online Service Index Team, said: "The portal is the forefront of government online presence, and is a common platform for government entities in general, and a manifestation of team spirit between the TRA and those entities. In the executive team, we have a sub-team on portal content and digital engagement, where the portal and its components are an important part of digital government development standards, according to the UN survey issued every two years in this regard."
Contents of government websites and services of federal and local entities can be accessed through the portal. Everyone can participate in developing the content of the portal based on the shared responsibility for such content addressing various audiences. The portal includes four sections: About the UAE, Information & Services, E-Participation and Media. The first section covers key information relevant to UAE's economy, political system, government, plans, strategies, initiatives, long history and bright future. The information and services section covers many topics such as employment, investment, tourism, infrastructure and visa systems, as well as a full list of all government services in the country. The e-participation section includes channels of communication with the UAE government, advisory platforms, live chat, etc.
The portal is the first of its kind in the world with a single-letter domain name, the letter U, which has more than one meaningful meaning. It can also stand for "you", and refer to the first letter of words denoting union and uniqueness, which are some qualities of the UAE. The UAE is the only country in the world that has adopted the single-letter domain as the address of its portal, taking advantage of UAE’s unique name in English, making the portal domain appear as u.ae.
Recently, the portal has witnessed much effort to enrich its contents, in light of the emerging exceptional circumstances, as more than 40 new portal pages have been added to cover the initiatives and precautionary measures enacted by the government to address this exceptional circumstance. This page has covered detailed information about government efforts during the exceptional circumstance to ensure safety of UAE citizens and residents and continuity of government services, business, education, and other vital sectors. More than 500K users have visited this page since its launch in late March 2020. A new page has also been added for digital government services available around the clock to facilitate conducting of remote transactions so as to ensure customer safety. More than 750K users have visited this page.
The official portal of the UAE Government was launched in 24 May 2011 by H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to act as a single window for online information and services provided by federal and local UAE entities to individuals, visitors and business owners.