Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced on Sunday that the government will issue an e-signature for 52,000 state-employees before they relocate to the New Administrative Capital later in 2021.
Maait noted that the finance ministry has issued 51,000 e-signatures since 2009, adding that the e-signature is renewed every three years.
E-signatures contribute to maintaining the confidentiality of data and pre-empting hacking, manipulation, or forgery, said Maait.
The minister added that there are presidential directives to the government to enhance the governance of the country's financial system under the ‘Digital Egypt’ project umbrella and meet the latest global standards.
The presidential directives aim to guarantee the utmost degrees of accuracy and security for public e-transactions and all financial operations through applying the e-signature system, Maait said.
E-signatures entrench good governance of public money, Maait added.
Maait explained that the ministry is currently implementing a national project to upgrade Egypt’s tax and customs systems in order to ease bureaucratic procedures, improve governance, facilitate internal and external trade flow, uplift tax collecting efficiency, catalysing investment, and increase economic growth.
Moreover, Maait said, there is an ongoing project to improve the operations of the ministry's Governmental E-certification Authority (GEA).
The GEA offers services such as issuing e-signature certificates, providing coding and e-signature applications required for securing data transfers on the governmental telecom nets, and conducting training programs, according to Mohamed El-Badry, the authority’s head.
El-Badry added that e-certification provides the state bodies with the e-seal service that provides a documented-secured central record of all the electronic governmental transactions, allowing e-certification for video, audio, and paper documents.
In June, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology amended the bylaws of the e-signature law, introducing e-seal and time stamp services.
E-signatures also allow individuals as well as judicial personnel to perform all types of governmental transactions remotely, saving money and time, according to Minister of Communications Amr Talaat.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last February, the government has accelerated its efforts to digitally transform all sectors of the administrative apparatus to adapt to the "new normal" imposed by pandemic.
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