The modern global citizen expects a high standard of government services. He and she are looking for quick access to well-defined services and expect quick responses from the concerned ministries and departments. Delivery of smart government is not a luxury any more, but is an essential part of the UAE’s on-going work to position itself among the world’s leading nations. Without universal smart government the UAE will fall behind its competitors very quickly. This is why it is so important to see the reminder to all government sections to achieve this delivery from His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minster of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The UAE is set to be one of the world’s major commercial hubs within a few years, as its air and sea ports handle an ever-increasing share of global traffic — in particular coming from the fast-growing countries in Asia and Africa. Smart government services will be vital to support this growth and in its absence, the world will simply choose to go elsewhere and let the UAE languish.

The on-line delivery of government services also has the very welcome effect of encouraging much greater transparency and equality of delivery. The old possibility of personal favours from officials to either allow or speed up the delivery of a particular requirement becomes much harder when everyone has to fill in the same forms online. In the new online environment, if all the necessary conditions have been met, approval becomes very straightforward.