Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday announced his government’s Digital Transformation Strategy in a ceremony.
The Strategy was unveiled at an event in Erbil, where it was attended by senior government officials as well as members of the diplomatic community.
Barzani said the Digital Transformational Strategy is part of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reform efforts in the digital sector aimed to reduce red tape and enhance transparency.
The Strategy’s main goal is to make the KRG a “GovTech powerhouse”, ranking the government as of the top digital governments in the region.
The premier expressed his gratitude for the support of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office as well as the British Consul General in Erbil David Hunt for their support in devising the Strategy.
Barzani in August launched the first-ever digital driving license. A month later, he inaugurated the Kurdistan Region’s data center, which is the building block for Iraq’s Kurdish digital infrastructure, he said.
The new company registration system
The KRG is set to announce a new company registration system in the near future that would provide “better, easier, and cheaper” services to businesspeople as well as investors, Barzani said.
The system would also help develop investment opportunities in the Kurdistan Region.
Electronic visa
An electronic visa system will be launched in November, Barzani announced, adding it would further facilitate tourism to Kurdistan Region.
The prime minister hailed the efforts of the Department of Information Technology (DIT) for developing the Strategy as well as the digital infrastructure.
Barzani said the impacts, including facilitating the day-to-day affairs of citizens, will be felt in the near future.
“Ending reliance on paperwork and providing digital services is not a choice but a necessity,” Prime Minister Barzani said in 2020.[1]