Department of Economic Development applications to be processed electronically

Abu Dhabi: The Department of Economic Development (DED) will soon be processing applications for the issuance of commercial licences electronically.

While a date has not been set yet, its application is expected in the next few months, said Ali Fahd Al Nuaimi, Director of DED's Commercial Relations Department.

"We want to make sure the people know the process," he said. "There are a lot of people in our community that do not know how to use a computer, for instance. We have kept that in mind. That's why we want to make sure people know how to do it first."

The department said it will provide training services to familiarise people who seek a commercial licence with the new electronic process.

"We will also announce the project to the different typing centres and put out brochures in all the different languages," he said.

The reason for the transfer has been the huge amount of paper the department uses on a daily basis. "We use paper in large amounts. There's a high cost there. It's not environmentally friendly. We also need to store these documents and that's also costly. Besides this is the direction the Government of Abu Dhabi wants us to go in," he said.

Al Nuaimi said it was the first of a series of electronic services to come.