Image used for representation only.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar is at the forefront of countries adopting trailblazing technology and integrating artificial intelligence in line with Qatar National Vision 2030, an official at the Ministry of Labour said.
Many government agencies and academic institutions have contributed alongside the private sector in the mission to adopt artificial intelligence, said Supervisor of the Expatriate Labour Affairs sector in the Ministry of Labour, Sheikha Najwa bint Abdul Rahman Al Thani while speaking at an event organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia “ESCWA” in New York, USA, within the framework of the 2023 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
At the event “Pushing Boundaries and AI to Accelerate the SDGs in the Arab Region,” she presented the experience of the Ministry of Labour in this field, as the Ministry launched its digital transformation strategy last year, which focused on the use of artificial intelligence to enhance services in line with the broader objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030 to upgrade Labour sector management and raise the customer satisfaction index in the Ministry.
She said that the focus of the Transformation Management Office is not only limited to digitising and transforming the user services provided by the Ministry but also creating solutions through the use of agile software development, digital cloud, and other modern emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide customers and stakeholders with a seamless user experience and have a positive mutual impact on business and institutions in Qatar.
She also highlighted primary initiatives for artificial intelligence, which the Ministry of Labour will launch to solve major Labour sector issues, represented by the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) initiative. It also has enormous potential to monitor progress toward global goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals and assess the impact of initiatives and policies, allowing for evidence-based continuous improvement and decision-making.
Sheikha Najwa said, “To ensure the effective completion of the basic mission given to our Ministry and to work to integrate the national workforce into the private sector, we have developed two other initiatives, she said. Given the demographic composition of the country and the needs of the future Labour market, the Ministry launched the [matching tool and nationalization platform.
The other initiative was the Ministry of Labour’s partnership contracts with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Microsoft, and PricewaterhouseCoopers Middle East in Qatar to create an innovative software and AI algorithm/model that serves the localization program and supports the private sector at the same time.
“Its interactive nature calculates localization percentages tailored to each company in Qatar to balance the economic impact on business and minimize any potential negative impact on the sector and the government. ESCWA supported the Ministry of Labour in tasks related to creating a Labour market analysis, discovering revolution skills and the fourth industrial sector in Qatar, and developing a state-of-the-art matching platform for nationals based on the ESCWA Skills Monitoring Programme,” said Sheikha Najwa.
As part of her speech, she stressed the firm belief in the value of integrating artificial intelligence into the Labour sector to gain valuable insights into the dynamics of the Labour market in Qatar, leading to more effective policies and interventions to support economic growth, develop the workforce and improve employment opportunities for citizens, and harness our full economic potential to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and build a more prosperous and inclusive society.
Sheikha Najwa’s address received high acclaim from delegates of various nations, who commended the efforts put forth by Qatar. Her speech spurred discussions around intensifying cooperation and knowledge sharing in combating shared hurdles. They also considered adopting technological and artificial intelligence advancements, featured prominently in the Ministry’s initiatives, to expedite realizing their objectives.
