Gulf States score highest in ESCWA Maturity Index

BEIRUT, Feb 19 (KUNA) -- UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) announced on Monday that for the third consecutive year, Gulf States scored highest in the Government Electronic and Mobile Services (GEMS) Maturity Index.

In a statement, ESCWA said that Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar came in the first three places, and that this year's included 17 participating countries.
In its fifth edition, the index aimed to measure the maturity of government electronic and mobile services based on three criteria, namely service availability and development, service usage and user satisfaction, and government outreach efforts.
The statement noted that most Arab countries recorded progress in the index between 2022 and 2023, adding that there is an increase adoption of digitization in Arab countries in the governmental services.
ESCWA GEMS Regional Advisor Mohammad Nawar Al-Awa called on countries that are still in the "early stage" of digital maturity to benefit from the exchange of experiences between Arab countries to accelerate the process of digital transformation and maximize the positive impact of the use of digital technologies in government services.
He said that the education sector topped the list of sectors that included digital services that were evaluated this year, calling for the need to make more efforts to digitize the services of other sectors, such as justice and tourism.
ESCWA has been issuing the Maturity Index for Electronic and Mobile Government Services in the Arab Region annually since 2019.
(By definition: Digital Maturity refers to an organization's ability to quickly respond to the developments and shifting trends of technology). (end) ayb.seo.