RIYADH — The e-government program (Yesser), in cooperation with the World Bank, hosted Tuesday 18 speakers, decision-makers, experts and academics from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the world during the webinar — Insights on the Future of Digital Government Through the Lens of COVID-19.

Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Haytham Al-Ohali, indicated that COVID-19 pandemic constituted a true test of digital capabilities and the flexibility of digital infrastructures around the world.

He stressed the importance of cooperation between governments and government institutions to accelerate the recovery of societies and the economy after this pandemic.

He pointed to what Saudi Arabia and the G20 have done to stop debt payments of needy countries until the end of the year so that they can use their money to fight the novel coronavirus.

The CEO of the e-government program (Yesser), Ali Bin Nasser Al-Asiri, pointed out that organizing this event comes as a continuation of the Yesser's partnership with the international community’s institutions, including the World Bank and the United Nations.

He indicated that the program works in conjunction with those entities to enable the world to respond to disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic.

Al-Asiri stated that Saudi Arabia has succeeded in overcoming this pandemic through three main characteristics, namely flexibility and enabling business continuity in government agencies, innovation and design of digital services to respond to the immediate needs of citizens, and the ability to adapt to increase the adoption of electronic services.

He also touched on what government agencies have done in Saudi Arabia by providing services to meet the requirements of the beneficiaries.

Participants in the webinar reviewed a number of international experiences that had a great impact in responding to crises, calling for the necessity of developing electronic services provided to beneficiaries and increasing their automation, investment in cloud services and modern technologies such as big data and others.

They also called for focus on investment in infrastructure and the development of government digital platforms, and improving procedures, meeting the needs of beneficiaries proactively and increasing communication between decision makers and beneficiaries. — SPA