Riyadh, February 24, 2022, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Government Electronic and Mobile Services Maturity Index (GEMS) issued by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The index measures the maturity of government services provided through e-portals and smart applications, and focuses on 84 essential government services, either for individuals or businesses, in various sectors, most importantly education, justice, finance, business, tourism, health, interior, housing, municipal affairs, labor, social affairs, and the environment. On this occasion, Governor of the Digital Government Authority Eng. Ahmed bin Mohammad Al-Suwaiyan expressed his appreciation for the significant support provided by the wise leadership to the digital ecosystem that resulted in Saudi Arabia’s advancement in the global indexes. He stressed that this achievement is the culmination of joint efforts with government agencies to attain quality of life, which is one of the objectives of Vision 2030, by providing innovative, proactive, and advanced government services through e-portals and smart applications. The index measures government services and their development process and contribution in improving quality of life, achieving sustainability and supporting entrepreneurship, according to three main pillars; the first is related to service availability and development, as Saudi Arabia ranked first in the first pillar with a progress rate of 16.7%. The second pillar focused on the use and satisfaction of the service; Saudi Arabia ranked second in this pillar to be one of the advanced countries in this field, with a progress rate of 29.5%. The third pillar is related to public outreach; Saudi Arabia ranked second in this pillar, up from the 2020 report by 17.6%. It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia is ranked second globally among the G20 countries in the Digital Competitiveness Report for the year 2021 issued by the European Center for Digital Competitiveness. Saudi Arabia had been at the forefront among the first group of the highest leading and innovative countries in the areas of providing government services and interacting with citizens according to the government technology report (GovTech) issued by the World Bank. --SPA 13:54 LOCAL TIME 10:54 GMT 0012 www.spa.gov.sa/w1696253