Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Labour has successfully cut down time taken to issue work permits from two months to 15 minutes with the help of their online portal.

While 750,000 transactions used to be completed every year earlier, with the introduction of the new portal 2.5 million transactions are completed.

Expressing his satisfaction over the positive comments the ministry's website received in the UN E-Government Survey 2008, Dr Ali Abdullah Al Ka'abi, the Labour Minister, said, "This is a step forward for us. Out of the 192 countries assessed in the survey, UAE ranks 32nd globally in terms of e-government readiness and ranks second in the region.

"The country moved 10 places ahead from the previous survey results and we are happy to have played an important role in this."

Source - Gulfnews