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'Necessity not luxury': UAE saved Dh14.7 billion by adopting digital services, says minister
'For governments to be relevant, competitive and effective, we embarked on the modernisation journey very early – two decades ago,' the minister added
- PUBLISHED: Sun 26 Jan 2025, 11:23 AM UPDATED: Sun 26 Jan 2025, 7:17 PM
The UAE has saved $4 billion (Dh14.7 billion) through the digital transformation of the public sector, said Maryam bint Ahmed Al Hammadi, Minister of State and Secretary General of The UAE Cabinet.
“The rapid pace of the advanced technologies, the rise of AI, and the rise of the citizen expectations made modernisation not a luxury, but a necessity. For governments to be relevant, competitive and effective, we embarked on the modernisation journey very early – two decades ago,” Al Hammadi said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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“We started with the digital transformation, mobile and smart services, AI strategy 2031, which resulted in 99 per cent of government services being digitally transformed. We have 90 per cent satisfaction among citizens. We have 100 per cent of citizens living having a digitally unified number where they can access most of the government services and some of the private services. We have also done a federal saving of around $4 billion (Dh14.7 billion),” she added during the panel discussion on 'Governments, rewired'.
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80% of laws changed
The minister noted that the UAE knows that modernisation is not about only digital transformations, but legislative reforms are equally important.
“We need to attract talented people and entrepreneurs. It's not just about attracting them alone, but actually making them live in the UAE. That's why we had to do the massive reform in our regulations in all aspects. In 4 years, the target was to change most of the regulations and update them, and that's why 80 per cent of the federal laws in the UAE have been changed in 4 years… We have also introduced 30 new laws in the UAE,” she said.
Cope with change or 'thank you'
In reply to a query about why and how the UAE deals with legacy and brings in young leadership in the Cabinet, she credited Cabinet reforms that are introduced from time-to-time.
“The most important is that the Prime Minister and his ministers are all aligned to one vision. In the General Secretariat, we have tools for the Cabinet to monitor that everyone is doing his job, and we report back to the Cabinet what's going on in any of the visions being issued or announced. That's why we don't have that legacy of people (who don't want to change with time). Either you cope with the change, or we say 'thank you'. And you can do anything else somewhere else,” the minister elaborated about why the UAE government is so dynamic and young.
She added that reforms are carried out every two years and sometimes new ministries are introduced to tackle new issues and challenges that arise with the changes in technologies and other sectors.
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