Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Good Governance for Development in Arab Countries High Level Seminar on Measuring and Evaluating E-government and 3rd Working Group Meeting 12/13 March 2007 Update on progress in Lebanon Nasser Israoui

Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Despite the non-conducive environment, Lebanon has launched new initiatives and continued many activities and programs related to e-government Progress in the last nine month

Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Legal framework  Drafting a law on electronic transactions (Legalizing electronic information and protection of electronic information, e- signature and security of electronic information from the legal point of view). Currently it is at the parliament.  Appointment of Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) body

Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Services framework  Implementation/enhancement of 10s of ICT projects Work permit, customs, Cadastre, commercial registry, medical and social compensation at the COOP, NSSF … Document management systems, GIS applications  E-procurement pilot project (6 ministries, tender board, start with goods)  INFORMs is moving to an upgraded technical platform, CMS (advantages; easier to populate, Security, multi-user and workflow)  Support of Websites (Government portal, TA, Advisory services, and uploading information on a server managed by OMSAR to cover the cost of hosting and software upgrade, development).  Standardization of government transaction forms (initiative launched and failed and it is in the plan for future future)

Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Technical framework  Efforts to secure a grant to establish an internet hub in Lebanon and an international gateway.  Satellite images for Lebanon (towards a base map, awareness workshop, coordination …)  ORACLE enterprise agreement for 2500 users  MS enterprise agreement is underway  ICT standards on the web (commitment to keep them updated).  Efforts by the Prime Minister and OMSAR to mobilize a grant to fund a smartcard application at a national level (national ID card or health card).  Delay in moving toward DSL (This opened the chance for the wireless services which flourished a lot in Lebanon)

Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform-Lebanon Capacity Building/promotion/ operations framework  Training of civil servants is an on-going program  PC for all (student PCs, affordable prices paid over 2-3 years)  Community Centers (successful stories, OMSAR and other NGOs)  Resource mobilization Mobilized a loan of US$ 30 million mainly to implement ICT projects Mapping of ICT projects per Beneficiary, Sector, framework (to help in resource mobilization)  On the leadership level e-strategy unit at the Prime Minister’s office (slim set-up, role: advocacy, overview, coordination) A focal point for e-government (OMSAR)