(MENAFN- Arab News) Under the guidance of Prince Mohammed bin Naif second deputy premier and interior minister government departments have been advised to transfer services to an electronic platform in order to facilitate and ease procedures for citizens and residents to handle various transactions.

The government plans to expand these e-government services to complement its broader initiatives and projects aimed at achieving sustainable growth and development.

Prince Naif called on all sectors associated with the Interior Ministry to launch a new era of e-government to provide an online alternative to government services. This option will go hand-in-hand with regular government services but will make some procedures smoother and faster.

During a meeting on Wednesday Prince Naif emphasized his strong and sincere desire to raise the of quality of services while reducing the overall time and effort for beneficiaries to access ministerial services.

According to experts who briefed the minister on the results of his initiative there are already 160 services being offered to the population and more than 800 million online transactions.