News | Ministry of Transport

Monday, December 21, 2020

MOTC Honors “Qatar Digital Government Excellence Awards” Winners

Doha – QatarThe Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) has announced the entities that won Qatar Digital Government Excellence Awards at a ceremony MOTC organized and was attended by HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Al-Sulaiti and several senior officials from the government sector.The event also featured the graduation of new batches of Qatar Digital Government Training Program (QDGTP), stemming from Qatar Digital Government Strategy. HE the Minister honored the second batch, 17 graduates, of the Chief Technology Officers (CTO) Training Program and the third batch, 28 graduates, of the IT Talent Program.Qatar Digital Government Excellence Awards is one of the QDG program initiatives to value and recognize the efforts of government entities and organizations in developing and launching digital services and making them accessible for beneficiaries. The initiative also encourages all entities to advance with providing innovative digital solutions, thus supporting the country’s vision toward building a knowledge-based economy, in accordance with Qatar National Vision 2030.There are 7 categories for the Awards: Best Digital Service, Best Open Government Service, Best Innovative Service, Best Government Entity in Digital Transformation, Best Mobile Application, Best Governmental Portal or Website and Best Specialized Portal.Entries were evaluated and best initiatives selected by a neutral jury comprising local and international experts in the field of e-government and according to various criteria, such as creativity in providing the services, benefits to users and to what extent they achieved their desired goals. Based on the evaluations, two awards are provided under each category: First place (Gold) and Second place (Silver).The Best Digital Service award is given to the public-facing digital service by submitting an end-to-end digital service delivered in the most distinctive way with the highest level of quality. In this category, the Public Works Authority “Ashghal” won the silver award for its Moazanah System, whereas the Ministry of Education and Higher Education won the golden one for the Registration and Transfer of Students of Government Schools. In the Best Open Government Service category, awarded to the best digital platform or service that offers open data and/or e-participation to the public, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment won the silver award for Qatar's National Address "Unwani", whereas the Ministry of Transport and Communications received the golden award for Qatar Open Data Portal.In the Best Innovative Service category, awarded to the best innovative service that demonstrates innovative thinking and/or process improvement, the General Customs Authority won silver award for its Customs Declaration for Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing System, whereas Qatar Leadership Centre won the golden award for its QSurvey System. In the category of Best Government Entity in Digital Transformation, awarded to the best performance in the overall digital transformation of a government entity according to its progress and adherence to Qatar Digital Transformation Strategy, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry won the silver award, whereas the Ministry of Culture and Sports won the golden one. In the Best Mobile Application category, awarded to the best digital government application for smart services in terms of content, service offering, usage, design, functionality, accessibility, and user experience, the Ministry of Justice won silver award for SAK mobile app, whereas the Ministry of Interior won golden award for Metrash2 mobile app.In the category of Best Government Portal or Website, awarded to the best portal or website in terms of content, service offering, usage, design, functionality, accessibility and user experience, Qatar Public Prosecution won silver for its e-Services Portal, whereas the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, won gold for its portal. Finally, in the category of Best Specialized Portal, awarded to the best successful portal that is built to achieve specific purpose, target specific audience, empower social responsibility, community needs, well-being, and support or improve the community standard of living, Mada (Assistive Technology Center) won silver, for Mada Innovation Program, whereas the Ministry of Public Health won gold for MyHealth Patient Portal.In his remarks during the event, HE the Minister, Al-Sulaiti, said, “Digital government is the future of government services in Qatar and we will continue this transformation successfully through the support and contribution from all stakeholders and government entities, as well as through our commitment to qualify professionals in the ICT domain to the best quality.”He added: “Out of our interest in backing the digital transformation in Qatar according to the objectives of the QDG Strategy and in appreciation of all efforts and milestones that came true in reality, we launched Qatar Digital Government Excellence Awards to foster a culture of excellence and positive competition amongst government entities in the field of digital transformation and digital services by harnessing the advanced ICTs for providing the best services to all segments of the public.”HE the Minister pointed out that Qatar eGovernment Steering Committee, chaired by MOTC, has, since formed, been encouraging all government entities to introduce digital services plans and oversee their execution to achieve the objectives of QDG Strategy. The Ministry, he said, continues working closely with more than 40 government entities pertaining preparing and executing digital service plans.“The human element is the most important in the digital transformation ecosystem, and from the perspective of developing and qualifying Qatari youth to empower them to deploy innovative technology solutions and support our digital transformation plans, MOTC launched QDGTP, which to date has trained over 3000 government employees in IT through conducting more than 500 training courses and specialized training programs and around 40,000 training hours, in addition to granting more than 800 international certifications to program trainees,” he further clarified.Graduating the second batch of the CTO Training Program takes the total number of its graduates to 41 while the total number of IT Talent Program graduates has now reached 82.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Qatar Wins World Summit Award 2020 in “Inclusion & Empowerment”

Doha – QatarQatar has won the World Summit Award 2020 (WSA2020) in category “Inclusion & Empowerment” with the platform “Bonocle” – a Qatari startup.Bonocle innovated the first ever Braille entertainment platform. The power of Bonocle is taken advantage of when used alongside an iOS or Android smart device to gain access to applications for work, education, or gaming. With such uses, Bonocle adds value to its users at home, school, and in the office. Bonocle envisions an unsegregated world where the blind and sighted share classrooms and workplaces. The story started at the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), which played a key role in the company’s success. Since established, its goal has been to further integrate blind people in classrooms, universities and workplaces while having equal access to technology.Bonocle was selected and nominated among 40 winners (5 in each of the 8 categories of WSA Awards) announced by the Awards officials out of 380 nominations in total from over 100 participating countries.With this win, Qatar has become the only GCC country to have won an award in one of the categories for this year. Additionally, Qatar and Lebanon are the only two Arab countries to have ever won one of the Awards categories.“We are proud Qatar has won the WSA2020 award in Inclusion & Empowerment; something which reflects Qatar’s advancement in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship and the attention it pays to empowering and including the disabled through powerful technology. We are especially pleased this announcement coincides with the Qatar National Day celebrations,” said the Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society Development, MOTC, Ms. Reem Mohammed Al-Mansoori.The eight award categories are Government & Citizen Engagement, Health & Wellbeing, Environment & Green Energy, Business & Commerce, Learning & Education, Culture & Tourism, Smart Settlements & Urbanization, and Inclusion & Empowerment.The winning products will be invited to the WSA Global Congress, which this year will be virtual on March 22-24, 2021, where they will have the opportunity to pitch and promote their projects at a global level.A local jury, formed by the official national expert for WSA in Qatar, Ms. Al-Mansoori, had screened and assessed all the submissions that represent Qatar and selected one qualified product for each category to further represent Qatar at the international level.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Qatar Participates in 24th Session of Council of Arab Ministers of Communications and Information

Doha – QatarThe State of Qatar today participated in the 24th session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Communications and Information held via videoconferencing and attended by several Arab ministers and officials.The Qatari delegation to the session was headed by HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti.Their Excellencies Ministers discussed the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on postal sector and the activities of the Arab Permanent Postal Commission and its workforces. They also discussed the role information and communication technologies play in addressing the pandemic. There was also a follow-up on the implementation of the Regional Development Plan - Arab Region (2017-2020) and the Arab nominations for the membership of the Governing and Postal Investment Councils of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).They also discussed topics on cybersecurity, combating online crimes and terrorism, the Arab Internet Governance Initiative, the Arab Digital Capitals Initiative and latest updates on the Regional Forum for Digital Arabic Content.The agenda also included a review of aspects of cooperation with other regional workgroups and organizations in the field of communications and information technology such as the Arab-Chinese cooperation and cooperating with Russia on global information security.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Minister Meets with ICAO Council President

Doha – QatarHE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti met today via videoconferencing with the President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council HE Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano.The meeting discussed Qatar-ICAO relations in the field of civil aviation and means of further enhancing them.The meeting was attended by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Chairman HE Mr. Abdulla bin Nasser Turki Al Subaey and ICAO Secretary-General Dr. Fang Liu.

Monday, December 14, 2020

MOTC Organizes 8th National Cybersecurity Drill “STAR 8”

Doha – QatarIn the presence of HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti and some officials, the Ministry of Transport and Communications yesterday organized the 8th National Cybersecurity Drill (Star 8) in continuation of annual national cyber drills MOTC’s Cybersecurity Sector has been conducting since 2013 with the aim of raising State entities’ preparedness and efficiency to address and handle cyberattacks.Held remotely due to the precautions of the Coronavirus COVID-19, this year’s drill carried the theme: “Defending the Nation: Know Yourself.”The drill covered topics on several fundamental technologies such as the security-wise designing of technologies and the necessary protection mechanisms by modeling the cyberthreats that institutions encounter and, therefore, stopping them and helping the institutions to better understand to what extent their defenses are ready to address lurking cyberattacks.This annual activity comes within the framework of achieving the objectives of the National Cybersecurity Strategy in terms of improving and sharpening the national capacity in cybersecurity by qualifying professional workforce in this domain and boosting cyberattacks response preparedness by detecting, investigating, managing and responding to and recovering from them. This happens through cooperation, instant exchange of information and deploying the appropriate measures. “Cyber drills aim to determine the cybersecurity situation of organizations across the country and gauge their preparedness and maturity for protecting their electronic assets and their resilience to cyberthreats, as well as addressing any electronic security weaknesses,” said Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Cyber Security Affairs, MOTC, Mr. Othman Salem Al-Hamoud.“This year’s edition of the drill is the highest in terms of number of participants in the history of cyber drills which now enter their eight year. The number of participating entities is more than 100 represented by over 1000 specialists. These entities relate to critical infrastructure sectors. The rise is nearly 27% compared to the number of entities that took part in last year’s drill,” he added.STAR 8 featured diverse scenarios and exercise models, tailored and engineered by a team of experts from MOTC’s Cybersecurity Sector to fit the requirements of the participating sectors. Several important topics were covered such as business continuity during the Coronavirus pandemic with a special focus on the human element and its main role throughout this crisis.“STAR 8 drill comes in continuation of a series of national cyber defenses that began in 2018 with STAR 6 themed “Securing Major Events” and STAR 7 themed “Know Your Adversaries,” said Eng. Noora Yousef Al-Abdulla, Director of Critical Infrastructure Protection Department, Cybersecurity Sector, MOTC.This year’s drill is unique with two key features: the intensive focus on institutions assessing their own systems and defense capabilities based on concepts, exercises and techniques deployed in previous versions and the full integration between the exercises and the technologies - an integration that was only partial in last year’s drill, she noted.The second feature is conducting a national cyber drill that size fully remotely, which is a valuable addition that could make it easier for the State and the critical entities in the future to handle any potential crises that could hamper the assembly in one place to manage cyber crises.STAR 8 was conducted via a special national cyber drill platform accessible exclusively for participating entities with a direct, instant connection with the participating teams to answer any questions and resolve any technical glitches.Qatar is one of the lead nations in national cyber drills, recognized at several regional and international platforms.Ahead of the drill, the MOTC Cybersecurity Sector last week held workshops and technical presentations for all participating entities to support them by enriching their knowledge on how to resolve the scenarios of the drill and to answer their relevant questions. In a related context on the sidelines of the event, HE the Minister honored the winners at the national level of the “Threat Hunters 2020 Competition” MOTC last August organized in cooperation with the ITU-Arab Regional Cybersecurity Center (ARCC).

Sunday, December 13, 2020

QTerminals Receives First Advanced Electric Tractor Assembled in Qatar

Doha – QatarQTerminals has received the first advanced electric tractor (APM 75T HE) that was assembled in Qatar at the assembly line GAME (Gaussin Advanced Mobility Electric) in the Ras Bufontas Free Zone, to be used in transporting containers at Hamad Port.On this occasion, HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti said that the operations of assembling electric tractors for transporting containers at Hamad Port terminals in Qatar are in pace with Ministry’s vision for supporting the national manufacturing and deploying the latest technologies that are based on environmental sustainability and clean energy.This step, he added, also supports Ministry’s plans for enhancing the localization of industry, expertise and the technology in use globally, in addition to localizing the actual operational processes for mobility, transportation and communications projects in such a way that enriches the investment mentality of national companies to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030. HE the Minister affirmed that producing this type of tractors will serve the Electric Vehicles Strategy MOTC had developed with the bodies concerned and which aims to support the country’s ambition for greener future.Hamad Port’s Container Terminal 2 is equipped with 22 advanced electric tractors APM 75T HE for container transportation within the terminal and the port.This type of terminal tractors is capable of functioning very efficiently in high temperatures. It uses advanced batteries; an entirely solid-state technology insensitive to temperature variations from -20 to 160°C. This supports its operations at Hamad Port in summers, when temperatures are very high in Qatar.APM 75T HE Terminal Tractors are highly productive with low maintenance cost. They are also easy to drive with a high level of safety, eco-friendly and energy saver. Being fully-electric makes them clean and sustainable with no polluting or carbon emissions or noise. Their CO2 emissions equal zero ton annually.They have also low operational cost. Each tractor will save nearly 45.5 thousand Qatari riyals a year versus the diesel-powered tractors. One kilowatt per hour costs 0.32 Qatari riyals in electric tractors compared to 2.32 Qatari riyals in diesel-powered ones.