RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) has been awarded the World Summit on the Information Society Forum’s 2022 Prize for E-Agriculture and E-Service, in recognition of services provided by the Naama Portal.
The ministry saw off global competition from 947 competitors during three phases of the award process to claim the prize.
Mansour Al-Mushaiti, the Kingdom’s deputy minister of environment, water and agriculture, told Arab News that the award, presented at the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva on Tuesday, was based on many factors, the foremost of which include “completing technical requirements and standards aligning with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, constructing digital platforms and using cutting-edge digital agricultural technology.”
He stressed the importance of employing technology in multiple sectors, including agriculture, because it enables organizations to better monitor performance and provides ministry officials and external stakeholders with easy access to information, enabling the ministry to improve its services.
Al-Mushaiti also said that the award reflects the support of the Saudi leadership for digital transformation across all of the ministry’s services and for the use of scientific research, development and innovation to help achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 development and diversification agenda.
The award is the second the ministry has received this year. Over the past four years, it has also improved its standing in the realms of e-government, digital agriculture and e-applications. The ministry’s goal is to provide beneficiaries with integrated and intelligent e-services that include qualitative data and new experiences.
Abdulhameed Aleliwi, director of MEWA's General Administration for Information Technology and Digital Transformation, accepted the award, which was presented by Houlin Zhao, secretary-general of the ITU, and representatives of WSIS Forum member states.
“This achievement reflects the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the strategy of digital transformation of the ministry’s system through the unification of digital platforms and the promotion of benefiting from modern technologies,” said Aleliwi.
“It aims to improve service quality and the digital experience, providing qualitative and comprehensive data.”
The WSIS Forum is described as the world’s largest annual gathering of the information and communications technology for development sector.
