Abu Dhabi.. The Arab Union for the Digital Economy participated in a high-level delegation headed by Dr. Ali Mohamed Al-Khoury, President of the Union, Advisor to the Council of Arab Economic Unity of the League of Arab States, during the activities of a conference of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development entitled “Digital Leaders 2020”.

The conference was held virtually on 15-16 October, with the presence of the OECD Working Group of Senior Digital Government Officials from OECD Member Countries.

The conference discussed opportunities, challenges, and priorities for building digital government maturity to improve well-being, confidence, flexibility and sustainability in countries, in light of what the COVID-19 health crisis and its economic, social and environmental impacts have emphasized in the importance of governments being more flexible to interact with changes and prepare for the future.

The participants pointed out that although the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation plans, digital maturity has had an impact on the extent and quality of fulfilling the needs and interests of citizens, and that it is important that digitization be a sustainable way to achieve the goal of securing rights and empowering societies in a comprehensive way.

The attendees also emphasized that digital maturity builds on stability to find long-term sustainable solutions in response to emerging challenges, in line with the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, noting that governments need to have the right capabilities, measures, and political and institutional mechanisms to take advantage of digital technologies and data within their borders.

It is worth noting that the “Digital Leaders 2020” conference focused in its current session on four areas of action based on the recommendations of last year’s meeting to show how countries can progress on their path towards digital maturity, which was represented in “1. Digital Government Governance, and 2. Data management and data collection ethics, and 3. Measuring progress in digital maturity, and 4. International cooperation and solidarity in the digital age.”