UAE | Government
Abu Dhabi government aims to be world-class
The emirate is planning to position itself among the top five best performing governments worldwide, announced a senior official from the General Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC) on Saturday at a press conference.
- By Dina El Shammaa, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:31 November 29, 2008
- Hamid Al Hashemi, Manager of the Performance Evaluation and Control Department in the GSEC, and Dr David Norton of the Palladium Group.
- Image Credit: Supplied picture
Abu Dhabi: The emirate is planning to position itself among the top five best performing governments worldwide, announced a senior official from the General Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC) on Saturday at a press conference.
Under the slogan, Creating the Future of Abu Dhabi Today, the GSEC joined hands with the Palladium Group of the US to launch a Master Class to help enhance productivity among 31 ministries and authorities across the capital.
Strong coordination
"The government has managed to identify its short-term focus and long term challenges through various benchmarks among different countries worldwide," said Hamid Al Safi Al Hashemi, manager of the Performance Evaluation and Control Department in the GSEC.
Among the top priorities is to develop human capabilities and technology.
"There is strong coordination between local entities and the federal government in understanding what each authority is working on.
"We are aware of the current difficulties and challenges facing us but are not giving up on long-term aspirations," Al Hashemi told Gulf News.
There are seven priorities that the Abu Dhabi government is currently focusing on, namely social development (health, education, safety, policy); economic development (reducing the dependency on oil and developing other sectors such as tourism, culture and soft businesses); environmental; infrastructure and people.
"We're not here to be the leaders in the shadow; we're just here to help. Soft businesses for instance require brains rather than construction frames. Our job since 2007 and to date is to offer directions for government officials. We don't tell people what to do, we simply show them the way," Joan Cabezas, Managing Director Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA Region) told Gulf News.
Cabezas and another ten team members along with 25 people from the GSEC have worked since 2007 on a 25-year-strategy plan for the capital city which involves a short-term plan of where the government would like to be in five to ten years from now and a benchmark of where it stands in comparison to the outside world.
"Abu Dhabi can position itself easily among the top five best performing governments due to three major advantages. It's a small country, resources are available and there's strong leadership and alignment," said the managing director.
More than 500 officials in various government sectors such as the Civil Service, Department of Planning and Economy, the Ministry of Health and the Health Authority Abu Dhabi have been certified to take part in the implementation process of the strategy plan.
Each agency was asked to submit current performance and data findings to ensure economic sustainability and up-to-date productivity across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
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