ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Bureaucratic “dinosaurs” are holding back the Kurdistan Region’s potential with red tape and regulations, Deputy PM Qubad Talabani told a conference in Estonia on Wednesday. The solution, he said, is digitization.
“In Kurdistan, dinosaurs still roam the earth,” Talabani told a panel discussion at the two-day e-Governance Conference in Tallinn.
“I know they are extinct in other parts of world but we still have them, and they are bureaucrats, and they love bureaucracy.
“They love to look at laws, regulations and guidelines and use laws and regulations and guidelines to complicate the processes, and not to expedite them,” Talabani said.
“This drives us crazy.”
The annual conference held in the Estonian capital explores digital transformation in governance, regional and transnational cooperation, and public-private partnerships (PPP) in technological innovation.
Contributing to one of the conference panels, Talabani highlighted some of the steps taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to digitize its antiquated bureaucracy, including it biometric registration system, which reportedly exposed thousands of “ghost employees”.
The financial crisis, the war with Islamic State (ISIS), and the mass displacement of people across the region put a heavy strain on the KRG’s outdated systems and highlighted the urgent need for change, Talabani said.
“Our situation is somehow unique. We are a sub-sovereign entity, and our road to digital transformation … really came out of necessity rather than choice,” he said.
“So we introduced the biometric registration program to biometrically register every single employee, pensioner, [and] benefit recipient in the government, and in six months we were able to register 1.2 million people,” he said.
The KRG also introduced the Service or Xizmat project in 2018, where government transactions are digitized so users can access them online, saving them a long wait at KRG offices.
“When we provide these services online … we are putting together the mindset that we are moving towards a new digital era now. We have been able to highlight also the deficiencies that we have, the enormous bureaucracy, the complications and the number of unnecessary steps it requires to renew your driver’s license,” Talabani said.
The government’s new financial and administrative system could save the treasury millions of dollars.
The parliament introduced a reform bill on February 27, 2018 to reform the salaries of public employees and pensioners, clean the list of beneficiaries, prevent duplicate benefit and double-salary holders, and institutionalize the pension program.
“We will pass the reform bill in the first month of the new government,” Ali Hama Salih, head of the pro-reform Change Movement (Gorran) bloc in the Kurdistan Region Parliament, told Rudaw in April this year.
“Nearly 70,000 people who have taken millions of dollars from this country through corrupt means will have their salaries cut,” he added.
KRG e-visa, e-residency
“We want to make it easy to people to visit Kurdistan. We do not make people wait three months to get a visa to come to Iraq,” the deputy PM told the conference panel.
“We have instituted our own e-visa process where you can apply for visa online and in an hour or so you will be approved or rejected based on the data that is submitted. This makes it easy for foreign investors to come in. It gives them a sense that there is a government that is open and wants them there,” he added.
The Region’s e-residency program “has helped us deal with a horrible scourge of human trafficking,” Talabani said.
“In Kurdistan, dinosaurs still roam the earth,” Talabani told a panel discussion at the two-day e-Governance Conference in Tallinn.
“I know they are extinct in other parts of world but we still have them, and they are bureaucrats, and they love bureaucracy.
“They love to look at laws, regulations and guidelines and use laws and regulations and guidelines to complicate the processes, and not to expedite them,” Talabani said.
“This drives us crazy.”
The annual conference held in the Estonian capital explores digital transformation in governance, regional and transnational cooperation, and public-private partnerships (PPP) in technological innovation.
Contributing to one of the conference panels, Talabani highlighted some of the steps taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to digitize its antiquated bureaucracy, including it biometric registration system, which reportedly exposed thousands of “ghost employees”.
The financial crisis, the war with Islamic State (ISIS), and the mass displacement of people across the region put a heavy strain on the KRG’s outdated systems and highlighted the urgent need for change, Talabani said.
“Our situation is somehow unique. We are a sub-sovereign entity, and our road to digital transformation … really came out of necessity rather than choice,” he said.
“So we introduced the biometric registration program to biometrically register every single employee, pensioner, [and] benefit recipient in the government, and in six months we were able to register 1.2 million people,” he said.
The KRG also introduced the Service or Xizmat project in 2018, where government transactions are digitized so users can access them online, saving them a long wait at KRG offices.
“When we provide these services online … we are putting together the mindset that we are moving towards a new digital era now. We have been able to highlight also the deficiencies that we have, the enormous bureaucracy, the complications and the number of unnecessary steps it requires to renew your driver’s license,” Talabani said.
The government’s new financial and administrative system could save the treasury millions of dollars.
The parliament introduced a reform bill on February 27, 2018 to reform the salaries of public employees and pensioners, clean the list of beneficiaries, prevent duplicate benefit and double-salary holders, and institutionalize the pension program.
“We will pass the reform bill in the first month of the new government,” Ali Hama Salih, head of the pro-reform Change Movement (Gorran) bloc in the Kurdistan Region Parliament, told Rudaw in April this year.
“Nearly 70,000 people who have taken millions of dollars from this country through corrupt means will have their salaries cut,” he added.
KRG e-visa, e-residency
Encouraging foreign investment in the Kurdistan Region requires an open and practical visa and residency system, Talabani said.
“We want to make it easy to people to visit Kurdistan. We do not make people wait three months to get a visa to come to Iraq,” the deputy PM told the conference panel.
Those visiting Iraq currently need to apply for a visa in advance of their arrival, which is prohibitively expensive and often denied. Those visiting the Kurdistan Region, however, can receive a free 30-day visa stamp on arrival. Those applying for residency in the Region, however, face an expensive, bureaucratic process which can take several days to complete.
“We have instituted our own e-visa process where you can apply for visa online and in an hour or so you will be approved or rejected based on the data that is submitted. This makes it easy for foreign investors to come in. It gives them a sense that there is a government that is open and wants them there,” he added.
The Region’s e-residency program “has helped us deal with a horrible scourge of human trafficking,” Talabani said.
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