Egypt has been adopting a robust strategy and strong course of action in transforming the existing government services and community ecosystem to an entirely digital and data driven ecosystem, to provide public services in a faster and simpler way.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) seeks to create public value, in terms of value for individuals through easy access to government transactions and information, and value for government in terms of doing more for less.
Achieving digital transformation starts with building and upgrading the national information infrastructure. State agencies have cooperated with the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) to build the information infrastructure, helping form a full digital image of citizens’ entitlements.
Big data centers have been also built to host, protect, preserve, and secure data. The centers have been built following the highest technical and insurance standards.
MCIT cooperates with all sectors of the state to achieve digital transformation through two pillars: Provision of services to citizens and improvement of government performance.
All public services are to be provided to citizens digitally, nationwide. Egyptian citizens, anywhere in the country, will be able to receive these services in a digital format. Several methods of online payment of service fees have been made available.
A government intranet has been created connecting government buildings nationwide. More than 33,000 buildings are being connected.
In addition, the Government-to-Government (G2G) system, which facilities electronic sharing of data and/or information systems between government agencies, departments or organizations., has been optimized. State agencies communicate through the system and coordinate operations to deliver services to citizens through a single entity.
Several e-services have been developed and launched for a number of entities, including law enforcement, notarization, personal status, family courts, supply, electricity, agriculture, traffic, real estate registration, Mortgage Finance Fund (MFF), and the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).
Digital Egypt e-Platform
The Digital Egypt e-platform has been launched to provide better, wider and more effective access to a wide range of public services. A number of fully-digitized services have been launched on the platform, in coordination with the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trading, Ministry of Justice, Public Prosecution, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Agriculture.
Services available on the platform include traffic, supply, notary, real estate, court, commercial register and real estate tax, social housing, civil status, and licensing services delivered in cooperation with the service-providing entities. This is in addition to other services that will be available gradually.
Citizens can obtain digital government services through four outlets:
Different payment methods have been also made available, including:
Bank cards
e-Payment companies
Mobile wallets
Electronic Signature
The Egyptian Root Certificate Authority (Root CA) has been created under the umbrella of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) by virtue of the Electronic Signature Law No. 15 of 2004. The Law regulates the e-signature system and digital transactions, laying the groundwork for digital transformation and availing IT tools and applications in using e-signature.
The executive regulations of the Law have been amended under the ICT Minister’s Decree No. 361 of 2020 to fast-track the digital transformation plan and realize the national vision of transforming the government into a high-tech digital platform.
e-Signature is a digital means to authenticate a citizen’s identity from anywhere. Services that required face-to-face identity verification and presence at service-providing government entities can be obtained remotely using e-signature.
ITIDA collaborated with ministries and agencies to create government-related and law enforcement applications. In addition, e-government applications were created to serve the relocation to the New Administrative Capital, where each employee will have an e-signature tool to ensure smooth paperless operations in the new work environment.