The Digital Government Authority (DGA) announced the strategic directions of the digital government and revealed its new identity, in addition to launching several initiatives at a ceremony held Wednesday in the city of Riyadh The event was held under the patronage of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Digital Government Eng. Abdullah Bin Amer Al-Sawaha, in the presence of a number of dignitaries. In his speech during the ceremony, DGA Governor Eng. Ahmed Bin Muhammad Al-Suwaian thanked the wise leadership for the great support that the DGA has received since the announcement of its establishment last year. He noted that the integration between government agencies contributed to the Kingdom’s obtaining many International and regional achievements in the field of digital government, as well as the efforts of government agencies to advance the digital government process. The governor affirmed that the strategic directions of the digital government shall enhance the Kingdom’s leading digital position, thus contributing to improving the quality of life, raising the satisfaction rate of beneficiaries, facilitating business practice, enhancing competitiveness, raising the efficiency of government performance, and activating community participation. This is in addition to increasing the contribution to the GDP and supporting the sustainability of natural resources through reducing carbon emissions, so that the Kingdom shall be among the top 10 countries in the field of digital government in the world by 2030. He also noted that the strategic directions of digital government are built on six main pillars; Beneficiary satisfaction, business empowerment, effective government, enhancing investment efficiency, developing the regulatory environment, as well as accelerating digital government transformation. The strategic vision of the digital government is to create a pioneering digital government for an empowered and dynamic society to contribute to providing seamless and integrated digital government services by utilizing technologies and focusing on the preferences of beneficiaries. During the launch of the new identity of the DGA, Al-Suwaian confirmed that the new identity of the DGA reflects, in its implications, the government integration in the provision of digital government services. He pointed out that the emblem embodies the strategic directions of the digital government and the role of the DGA as a regulator and national reference for digital government products and services, while maintaining the originality consistent with the Kingdom"s official emblem. Moreover, the ceremony witnessed the announcement of several initiatives to enhance the leadership of the Kingdom"s digital government. These are the initiative of the Saudi Digital Investment Frontier (SDIF), the initiative of the Governmental Technologies Program (GovTech), the initiative of the National Program for Community Participation (Tafa"ul). This is in addition to the launch of the DGA"s official website and digital services portal (Raqami). The Kingdom recently ranked first in the field of e-government services availability and development according to the Maturity Index of e-Government and Mobile Services issued by the United Nations Organization (ESCWA) This is in addition to the Kingdom’s ranking among the top countries in the provision of digital government services and interaction with citizens according to the Digital Maturity Report issued by the World Bank 2021. The Kingdom also ranked second among the G20 countries in the Digital Competitiveness Report 2021 issued by the European Center. — SPA