12 Sep 2013

As part of efforts to bolster national performance and global competitiveness, the governments of Abu Dhabi and Botswana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on information, communications and technology (ICT), knowledge sharing, capacity building and skills transfer.

A news release from Botswana Government Communication and Information System (BGCIS) said the MoU, signed on September 10, was a commitment for the governments of Botswana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to work together to develop electronic public services and marked the latest stage in cooperation in the ICT field. 

Mr Rashed Lahej Al-Mansoori, director general of Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), the government entity in charge of the ICT agenda in the Emirates of Abu Dhabi signed on behalf of the UAE, while Mr Lewis Malikongwa, deputy director general of the Botswana National Strategy Office, signed for Botswana.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Al Mansoori said ICT today laid the foundation and was the core component for rapid growth and sustainability in any dynamic nation. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi had an ambitious ICT vision and mandate that contributed towards ranking the UAE among the region’s top nations in ICT network readiness.

“The MoU signed today shows our commitment towards promoting international cooperation in this area and becoming a genuinely digital, knowledge-based society,” said Mr Mansoori. 

For his part, Mr Malikongwa said Botswana was passionate about ensuring delivery of top quality e-services to the people. “Therefore, to enhance people’s access to government information and services, we benchmarked several government e-service providers. After a thorough assessment, ADSIC stood out to be the best ranked entity in terms of e-services, particularly the Abu Dhabi Government Contact Centre set up and operations.

We believe that through this partnership, we will benefit from ADSIC’s expertise and knowledge to help us further develop our government portal and other e-services,” said Mr Malikongwa. Through the MoU, the two countries would collaborate on among others, sharing knowledge and expertise in the monitoring of productivity improvement and performance management. 

The two countries will also collaborate on skills transfer through attachments, exchange programmes and information sharing, as well as providing access to certain information in each other’s resource centers for purposes of information sharing. ENDS