THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL (GCC)
- ICT Projects

The value of ICT projects that were awarded and announced across the six GCC states during the first half of 2010 exceeded the value of similar projects for the whole 2009 by over 7%, according to the GCC ICT Projects Outlook & Review, report by MEED Insight. This trend points to a strong recovery within the sector, which was severely hit by the recent global economic slowdown.

Today, for example GCC governments are increasingly attuned to the potential of information and communications technology to deliver services more efficiently.

Many countries in the GCC region have established a basic legal and regulatory foundation to facilitate ICT adoption in the private and public sectors. One area in need of regulatory attention is the underutilization of encryption and other advanced security mechanisms needed to gain the public's trust in ICT-based services. As governments move toward ICT-based transactional services, users must be confident that their transactions are legal, and that their sensitive information will not be compromised or misappropriated.