Oman showcases major IT initiatives at WSIS forum

Times News Service

MUSCAT: The Sultanate’s participation in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) forum in Geneva, as a partner with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and a number of international organisations affiliated with the United Nations, continues for the third consecutive day. The forum was officially inaugurated on Monday morning under the patronage of Houlin Zhao, the Secretary-General of the ITU.

This year, the Sultanate participation in the forum is represented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Dr Salim bin Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA and the head of the delegation to the forum, participated in the discussion session which was held after the inauguration during which he spoke about the Sultanate’s employment of the emerging technologies of the 4th revolution in achieving the goals of sustainable development 2030, and the availability of digital identity for the personal data privacy and provision of secure eServices with a number of officials from around the world.

The delegation also organised a workshop to showcase the Sultanate’s IT initiatives, and was attended by Abdullah bin Nasser Al Rahbi, Permanent Representative of the Sultanate to the United Nations in Geneva and the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in which he praised the Sultanate’s partnership in organising the forum in several years.

He also praised the role played by the Sultanate in the field of information security internationally, which enabled it to obtain the hosting of the permanent headquarter of Arab Regional Cybersecurity Center.

During the workshop, Eng. Bader bin Ali Al Salhi, Director General of Oman’s CERT at ITA, presented a working paper on the efforts exerted in the field of information security by the Information Technology Authority and its role in protecting data and systems from cyber threats, thus providing a secure environment for electronic transactions and national IT infrastructure.

Aseelah bint Mohammed Al Kalbanieh, Director General of Information Technology at the Ministry of Manpower, also presented a working paper on gender equality in working environments.

She then spoke about 55 electronic services provided by the Ministry of Manpower for multiple segments and activating eParticipation that allows citizens and residents to express their views on the projects planned to be implemented by the ministry through a platform for electronic participation in its website and social media accounts.

Abdullah bin Hamoud Al Raqadi, Director General of Information Technology at the Ministry of Health presented a working paper on its digital strategy, its integrated electronic systems and on the experience of artificial intelligence in breast cancer detection, which will be applied in a number of hospitals in the near future and the contribution of information and communication systems to achieve a number of indicators of the Sustainable development within the third goal related to the health sector. The Director General of Information Technology at the Ministry of Education, Sulaiman bin Saif al Kindi, also presented a working paper focusing on the indicators of sustainable development within the fourth goal of the quality of education and efforts exerted by the ministry in this regard.