The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), has won the 2020 World Summit on Information Society (WSIS 2020) award for e-Science represented by Qatar Open Data Portal.

The announcement came on Monday, September 8, 2020, during the opening activities of the last week of the WSIS 2020, organized by the International Telecommunication Union via videoconferencing and continues until Wednesday.

State of Qatar, represented by Qatar Open Data Portal of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), won the 2020 World Summit on Information Society (WSIS 2020) award for e-Science. #QNA

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) September 7, 2020

Mashael Ali al-Hammadi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Information Technology Affairs at the MoTC congratulated Qatar for winning the award, which represents an international recognition for the digital progress achieved by the State within the Qatar Digital Government strategy.

‘‘This is an indication of its progress in improving its online services provided to the public, facilitating it in the cyberspace, and getting rid of the restrictions of time and place, wishing for the permanent presence of Qatar's digital government projects and programs on the coronation platforms to raise Qatar's name high in international forums ’’Al-Hammadi said.

‘‘MoTC thanks all government agencies' partners in the portal for providing all the data and statistics needed for the portal'' Al-Hammadi added.

Three Qatar projects have been selected as the heroes of 2020 on the WSIS Award.

The second category of the award included the "Centralised Connectivity in the Schools Network" at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, while the seventh category included the "Open Data" portal under the MoTC, and the eighth category included the multilingual e-contract system project — the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs.

In co-operation between the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the WSIS 2020 is held online, under the slogan "promoting digital transformation and global partnerships WSIS action lines to achieve sustainable development goals". 

The MoTC launched the "Qatar Open Data Portal" to facilitate the process of disseminating government data on the Internet through a single national platform, making it available to the public, and appropriately ensuring its quality and provision and according to international standards followed in this field.

Several government agencies share their data through the portal, and it is expected that all government agencies will join and participate in the portal to build a more efficient, open, and transparent government.

The competition includes 18 categories that are related to the WSIS Action Lines.

The WSIS Prizes competition is open to all stakeholders including governments, companies, civil society, international organizations, academia, and others.

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Source: QNA

Cover and Inline Image Credit: MoTC