Muscat – The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) organised a joint meeting with governors to discuss the Government Digital Transformation Programme on Wednesday.

Digital transformation is an executive programme under the National Digital Economy Programme and one of the main enablers to fulfil the objectives of Oman Vision 2040. It envisages creation of a flexible and innovative government agency, which will provide high quality, smart government services.

The vision of the digital transformation programme stems from the need of enabling the government sector to work innovatively to provide smart services, adopt proactive measures, and offer a seamless digital experience to the electronic community.

H E Said Homoud al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, informed that 26 per cent of the targeted digital transformation plan has been completed.
Speaking to Muscat Daily, an official of MTCIT said, “The meeting aimed to activate linking, integration and alignment between the governorates’ plans for digital transformation.”

H E Dr Ali bin Amer al Shidhani, Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology in the ministry, said, “We need several things to create a digital economy, including creation of national industries and sustainable opportunities, enhancing local added value, establishing strategic partnerships with private sector institutions, and empowering economic sectors.”

According to H E Shidhani, the ministry will focus on a number of important aspects, such as the growth of data centres and cloud services and the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to empower economic sectors. These are in addition to stimulating the digital content industry, the cybersecurity industry, and attracting investments to the sultanate.

The meeting came out with several recommendations, including governorates reclassifying services and procedures to ensure conformity with administrative changes after restructuring of the state’s administrative apparatus, in addition to implementing the controls adopted in the digital transformation plan.

In January 2022, the sultanate announced that it will invest RO170mn over the next few years in the Digital Transformation Programme.

The programme includes a roadmap for utilising modern techniques to develop public sector functioning, notably by creating digital platforms for services, as well as a legal and regulatory climate that empowers digital transformation.