ABU DHABI // Most government services will be accessible by smartphone within two years.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced a new "government vision of the future" on Twitter yesterday following a meeting with 1,000 government officials.
The project, called mgovernment, follows the egovernment initiative, which was launched in 2000 and which led to most government services being made available online.
"The Government of the future works 24/7 and 365 days a year," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted. "It is as hospitable as hotels, fast in delivering and strong in its procedures".
He said the aim was for government to reach people instead of them having to reach it.
"Through their smartphones we can make their lives easier," he tweeted.
"The Government of the future is innovative and adaptive. It improves the quality of life and helps people achieve their happiness."
He said after the two years are up, failure would not be tolerated.
In tweeted that government officials had been told that if they failed to deliver mobile services, they would be given a "farewell ceremony".
He stressed the need for creativity, as a creative government was a developed one that "moves forward", "breaks routine", and can "always be number one".
The aim of mgovernment, he said, was to provide information to people at any time and anywhere.
He noted that the UAE had the best telecommunications infrastructure in the world, with about 14 million active mobile phone - an average of two per person.
"Today we want to move government information and service centres to every phone and every mobile device in the hands of users, which will allow them to place their government request from their phone wherever they are and without waiting," he said.
"A successful government is one that goes to the people and does not wait for them to come to it."