Steps towards E-Government in Syria Nibal Idlebi Ministry of Communications and Technology

Agenda ICT, a tool for the development of the Government ICT Status in the government in Syria Initiatives for E-Government in Syria

ICT, a tool for development ! ICT is a fundamental vehicle of how modern societies may function E-Government is one enabler to achieve the modernization of the society. Effective exploitation of ICT opportunities should help the countries in achieving economic growth, competitiveness and transforming the societies into information and knowledge based societies

E-Gov, a tool for development ! E-Government is a long term programme of change to : Transform the way government makes policy, Transform the way services should be delivered, Transform the way government uses technology, Change the way the public service is valued.

E-Government project Layers Infrastructure layer and Information level ensuring connectivity and information availability, Security and service level, ensuring security of transaction and information, authentication and privacy of data sharing Application level, ensuring different services in various sectors such as tourism, healthcare, transportation, etc Access level, ensuring the availability of services through different kind of access devices such as mobile telephone, digital TV, call centres, PC, Public Access points.

MoCT Objective The use of ICT: for enhancing the work of the government in improving the industrial and economical sector development of social and cultural activities. Importance of E-Government in: improving the administrative procedures in all the governmental bodies, creating citizen-focused and accessible services.

ICT in Syria (2003)….. Fixed phone penetration rate : 13% Mobile phone subscribers: 1,200,000 Internet subscribers: 120,000 Dial up is mainly used for Internet access Number of computers : 500,000 half of it in the government offices 23% of citizens have information about computer Lack of specialized engineers in ICT

ICT use in government bodies A considerable number of projects for the use of ICT in administrative and procedural work Lack of integration between different ICT applications ICT is not used professionally in the different governmental establishments Some high level integrated projects Information are not used as base for decision making IT is not used yet as a tool for decision making

ICT use in government bodies The number of web sites has increased recently, but it is still very low Most of the web sites are hosted abroad Lack of legislation for the professional use of ICT, and lack of cyberspace laws Web sites for publishing information Non E-Commerce applications Non E-Government services

To go towards e-Government Administrative Reform

To go towards e-Government Professional use of ICT Train People on the use of computer and internet Improve the penetration rate of ICT Development of integrated software for the back offices in the government bodies Development of applications Development of Web sites and e-services

National ICT strategy for socio-economic development Defined recently by the MoCT E-Government is one of its directions Specific national initiative for e-Government

National Initiative for e-Government Creation of National Steering Committee responsible of e-Government Initiative Establishment of National Information Service Centre Launching e-Government projects Re-activation of Decision Making Support System project Launching projects for public opinion exchange between governmental bodies and citizens Defining indicators for e-Government project evaluation

Legislations needed for e-Gov Under study electronic signature law electronic document exchange law e-Commerce law Intellectual Copyright law, In the future Electronic payment Privacy & security Consumer protection Electronic Cyberspace Laws

National Steering Committee Coordination between the different government bodies and administrative reform programs Define the action plan for the best use of ICT in administrative reform Define the evaluation criteria of e-government initiatives and applications Define standards for the use of ICT in administrative reform Launch pilot projects for back office automation Launch pilot projects in e-government

National Information Service Centre Facts in Syrian institutions Most of institutions follow one business rules: governmental working force’s main law, Contracts rules, Social Security rules etc. Most of institutions are very similar in their infrastructure needs Local Area Network, with one server and few Computers stations

National Information Service Centre The basis of e-government in the country for back office applications encourage institutions to use computers and establish a common network. ease the (financial / administrative / regulation) burden on each institution establish common rules to all the institutes to follow locally and nationally

National Information Service Centre Key words as base of the NISC : Simplification and specification of procedures, Security, Reliability, Standards at different level, National governmental network, Integrated Information System.

Goals of NISC Establishing a good working environment for the governmental institutions Establishing complete national rules and information national standard for the information system in Syria. Accreditation of software programs according to the developed specifications Creating a complete, comprehensive and integrated computer services

Goals of NISC Specifying the typical institution requirements to achieve their secure interconnect and establishing their LAN / WAN connection Offering different services to help spreading IT technology throughout most of the Syrian government’s institution and establishing e-Government: Security, Authentication, Login. Create strategic relationship with the application software providers.

e-Government projects Launching e-government projects in some governmental bodies according to their need and their level Launching Government Portal as first step for e-government applications Developing portal for e-government initiative

Decision Making Support System Activate the project Links with Central Office of Statistics Deliver periodic indicators about Syrian economic Publishing information and indicators on the Internet

Periodic Public discussions between governmental bodies and citizens

Set up Indicators for e-Government & Set up a model for its following up