Conference preamble - EEC 2015 Conference

The Impact of e-Economy on
MENA Region Development:
Global Competitiveness, International Regulations
and Strategic Partnerships
International Conference
March 2015
The professional world has witnessed during the last decade a mad race
waged by the private as well as the public service providers, in response to
customer needs by offering him service applications skillfully tailored to meet
or even surpass his expectations in all aspects of life. With the way they were
designed, implemented and (more importantly) availed on most smart devices
and platforms, these applications and trade tools were meant to free the
customer from appointments, physical office visits and cash manipulation, and
at the same time to exempt firms from the burden of a multitude of service
tasks by transferring these to the user, cutting therefore down their operating
costs and benefiting from customer feedback to better their activities and
services. In addition to the gain in service mobility for the users, these new
ways of doing business were lusciously profitable to businesses in customer
relations, confidence and loyalty by virtue of the transparency and amount of
information larger and more accessible than ever that is put at his fingertips,
adding thereby more value to his comfort and his feeling of freedom and
empowerment. These practices which started with B2C simple e-commerce
transactions, turned in no time into the complex e-business systems reigning
today on the global e-economy scene, and reflecting particularly the prosperity
of the B2B segment, betting on large scale spread of the internet use and its
infrastructure innovations on one hand, and ICT creative solutions to problems
related to the technical/legal aspects of commercial and financial/monetary
services on the other. And what speeded and helped even more in shaping the
e-business success is the presence of a mass of individual and corporate
clientele with a strong mindset for trade over the internet.
In the MENA region the substantial disparity between countries (the Arab
mostly) in e-business preparedness and practice extent as pointed out by
international expert reports, indicates that the e-economy there has yet a long
way to go to overcome the myriad of hurdles and challenges generated with
the field application of its tools and practices, and related to several of its
aspects including mainly e-landscape adequacy, consumer and business
rights protection, unfair competition, service integrity and security, credit
information disclosure, cyber crime and law enforcement…etc. And as many of
these countries are striving to limit their economic reliance on hydrocarbons by
leveraging their potentials in promising sectors like tourism and industry, and
are working their way to knowledge economy, some of the many concerns
raised about the status of their e-economy and its practice are for the least:
 What has been and what can be done to develop the e-landscape and
promote the e-economy tools and applications in the MENA region?
 What is more efficient for the e-economy in the MENA region countries
today: Global or inter-state investments and partnerships?
 How effective are the laws and regulations on e-economy in the MENA
region in protecting business and customer interests and rights against
fraud and other offences? And what can be done in this area?
 How opportune is the e-economy for the socio-economic development of
the MENA region in general, and the UAE and RAK in particular? And
what are the stakes in this respect?
In the UAE though, the horizons are promising as its federal government
will have taken, all along the past few years, the fast lane in global e-economy
by adopting a series of measures, aimed among other goals at the perfection
of e-landscape and services and crowned recently by the launching of its
smart government. Such ambitious initiatives leave no room for doubt in its
determination to break through all modern world technological ceilings, and to
achieve unprecedented socio-economic prosperity. This comes actually as no
surprise from a government that has set human welfare and happiness as top
priorities in its strategic objectives. In Ras Al Khaimah, even though the
foundations seem relatively well leveled considering the sizeable efforts made
in the area of e-services through the initiation of several projects by the main
government departments, lead by RAK Electronic Government Authority (“Best
m-Government Service - Ras Al-Khaimah” Award winner), the road is still long
and the ideal is to create within this opportune situation more synergy between
the government and the private sector in order for the latter to play a more
convincing role in promoting and implementing e-business practice.
To reflect on such important issues and concerns, we invite you to be part
of our international conference entitled: “The Impact of e-Economy on MENA
Region Development: Global Competitiveness, International Regulations and
Strategic Partnerships” which will be held during the period 14-16 March 2015
in Ras Al Khaimah - UAE, and will be hosted by the Department of Economic
Development-Government of Ras Al Khaimah as main organizer in
collaboration with the RAK Electronic Government Authority-UAE, the College
of Information Technology-UAEU, and the UAE Ministry of Economy RAK
Office. As we are open to any suggestions, comments and all types of support
during the coming conference preparation phase, we welcome your valuable
contribution to make this event a success, be it through your physical
presence and participation to the various activities and discussions or the
submission of a paper or poster related to the objectives and themes below.
Conference Objectives:
1. Review the major advances and breakthroughs in applications and tools
of e-economy activities (e-commerce, e-banking,…etc), products and
services, and their effect on business relations and consumer spending.
2. Shed light on the current status of the e-landscape in the MENA region
and its preparedness to internet economy, and the impact of that on its
competitiveness at the regional and global levels.
3. Analyze the relative merits and stakes of e-economy and its potential to
contribute to a sustainable development of the MENA region, as well as
its impact on the economic outlook of this region for short and long terms.
4. Examine the e-economy legislation and regulations in vigor at the national
and international levels, and their efficiency in supporting governance and
protecting individual and collective, public and private interests.
5. Evaluate the opportunity of e-economy to boost the economy of RAK and
the UAE, and the strategic partnerships therein likely to stimulate a
smooth transition of these to knowledge economy.
Conference themes:
First: Current trends and major advances in e-economy fields development,
and their effect on business relations and consumer spending patterns.
1. Latest developments in e-business (B2B, B2C, B2G, C2C,…) applications,
tools and ICT infrastructure, and the resulting ease in business relations.
2. Innovative mobile solutions, e-commerce applications and smart
government services as backbones to the development of e-economy.
3. m-commerce economic prospects and its potential impact on consumer
relations and spending patterns.
4. Main components of e-commerce transaction loops and their current and
future requirements in terms of e-frastructure.
5. Current trends in e-banking and e-business finance services and payment
systems.
Second: e-landscape and e-economy in the MENA region and their impact
on the competitiveness of its economy at the regional and global levels.
1. Status and perspectives of ICT use in the MENA region and impact of
that on its internet economy.
2. Geographic distribution of e-commerce practice in the MENA region, and
its relation with e-landscape.
3. Global standing of the Arab World leading e-business experiences and
best practices in B2B, B2C, B2G, m-commerce,…etc.
4. e-commerce and the prospects of small and medium businesses in the
MENA region to access global markets.
5. Role of e-landscape in leveraging the MENA region e-business economic
viability and competitiveness at the regional and global levels.
Third: Merits and stakes of e-economy as potential sustainable economic
development driver in the MENA region for the short and long terms.
1. Stakes and prospects of e-economy as a key contributor to the socioeconomic development of the MENA region.
2. Sustainable aspects of e-economy and its environmental, economic and
societal challenges in the MENA region.
3. Strategic importance of e-economy in the MENA region and its impact on
the economic outlook therein for short and long term horizons.
4. Advantages/pitfalls of e-commerce to MENA region businesses compared
to classical commerce and its performance in consumers satisfaction.
Fourth: Laws and regulations in vigor on internet economy, and efficiency of
their protective role for individual, collective, public and private interests.
1. Legal institutions law enforcement efforts against cyber crime and their
impact on the integrity and security of e-services and transactions.
2. Local/international Laws & regulations efficiency of protection from fraud,
credit information disclosure and inequitable competition in e-business.
3. Complementing consumer protection agencies with government initiatives
to ensure consumer and business rights protection in e-business.
4. Smart government, smart legal services and their support to governance
in the internet economy.
Fifth: e-economy and opportune partnerships as stimulants to knowledge
economy and economic development in RAK and the UAE.
1. Philosophy of the UAE smart government initiative as an ultimate path to
the achievement of people’s happiness and economic prosperity.
2. Role of the UAE smart government in raising government services quality
level to the top and aligning federal and local economic development.
3. The UAE economy fast transfer to knowledge economy through smart
services and technology, and opportune global partnerships in e-economy.
4. Perspectives of the government e-services in RAK, and their impact on
the key sectors driving its economic growth.
Details and directions about the participation/submission and more will be
communicated by email and will also be posted on the conference and
department websites: www.eec2015.ae , www.ded.rak.ae in due time. Please
contact us for any enquiries about these matters. At this stage we invite those
who intend to submit a paper or poster to send us an abstract of their
contribution, specifying the theme it relates to from among the list above.
Contacts:
Djamel Bellout, Ph.D.
Director, Studies & Statistics Division
Department of Economic Development
PO Box 10510, Ras Al Khaimah
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 7 2271222 ext. 400
Fax: +971 7 2281224
Email: dbellout@economic.rak.ae
Or :
Talib Al Hayally, Ph.D.
Senior Economic Consultant
Department of Economic Development
PO Box 10510, Ras Al Khaimah
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 7 2271222 ext. 401
Fax: +971 7 2281224
Email: dtalib@economic.rak.ae