Cisco Systems marks the start of a two-day regional best practice forum on e-Governance

OECD / UNDP meet on e-Government and administrative simplification at the Dubai School of Government

Dubai, September 18, 2005 – Cisco Systems hosted a reception to mark the first OCED/UNDP sponsored the recently held Thematic Working Group reception for e-Government and Administrative Simplification in the Arab Countries under the auspices of the Dubai School of Government in Dubai.

Owing to its involvement with the public sector and its intrinsic alignment to the betterment of governance by facilitating a citizen centric vision to the deployment of e-government services to the region, Cisco Systems is working in close cooperation with various regional governments and international organizations at providing "Thought Leadership" drives aimed at supporting e-government best practice in the Middle East region.

Speaking on the participation, Selim J. Eddé, Public Sector Regional Vertical Manager, Middle East and North Africa , Cisco Systems said, "the public sector is at a historical juncture for reform. The fundamental understanding of what the public sector stands for, and in turn its obligations to it citizenry is poised for change in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century connected society we live in. It has changed from the conventional sense to fully embrace public-private partnerships (PPP). In order to fully see to fruition these reforms, governments from across the region need to undergo a profound transformation of their administrative processes, from within. The Internet Protocol (IP) will be the single and major factor and agent of change that will support the Public Sector in effectively bypassing years of administrative legacy. We have witnessed very successful cases of positive transformation across the Middle East and North Africa that the region can be proud of. However there is still a lot to be done."

The challenge of a citizen-centric model of government mainstreams the expectations of its citizens while designing the digital delivery of its services in a simple manner, with robust interoperable procedures in mind between technology on the one hand, and horizontal as well as vertical service propositions on the other. This would in turn ensures transparency and accountability which in the long term results in a higher level of social inclusion.