Bahrain eGovernment participates in GITEX for the first time

Bahrain's pavilion, represented by E-Government Agency, is comprised of representatives from most ministries and concerned governmental authorities who are involved in the provision of services for individuals and entities.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Attyatalla Al Khalifa, Minister of the Cabinet Affairs and the Member of Higher Committee of Information and Telecommunication Technology, is due to preside the delegation of the Kingdom. His Excellency and the accompanying delegation were received by H.H. Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Minister of Finance and Industry and Deputy Ruler of Dubai during the inauguration of the Kingdom's pavilion in GAITEX Exhibition. The Minister Al Khalifa presented to Sheikh Hamdan and the accompanying delegation a summarized explanation for the e-government strategy of the Kingdom of Bahrain which is due to be completed by the year 2010.

"The e-government strategy of Bahrain could maintain the leadership role of the kingdom in the Gulf Region and the Middle East. The Kingdom of Bahrain aspires to keep and improve its position as a regional leader in the e-government field which complies with the utilization of state-of-the-art technologies to provide high quality service to the client", said the Bahraini Minister.

"Our e-strategy focuses on providing all customer services electronically, which would include 90% of basic services. In addition, the services should be integrated and the best kinds available, so that the customers can deal with only one governmental authority rather than a number authorities. Such e-services should be available to all people regardless of the educational level, nationality, age or income of the customers. It is planned for these services to be provided through multiple channels such as internet, mobiles, general services center and comprehensive services center,"

added the Minister in press statements.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is the first state in the Middle East to establish a semi-electronic government since 1966. The State completed the establishment of its informational infrastructure in 2000 including the Network and Data, Generators, Main Applications and Basic Wallpaper Programs. Since then, all ministries and governmental authorities were able to interact with each other before commencing the provision of e-services in May 2007. The services included were 32 services, with 20 still under implementation. The project is expected to be completed by the year 2010, providing 167 services related to the lifecycle of the individuals including citizens, residents and visitors as well as of the commercial corporations.

The Minister added that the kingdom of Bahrain regards the recipients of governmental services as customers rather than beneficiaries. Thus, the State endeavors to provide multiple services to the customers to meet their requirements, taking into consideration the money in return for value principle. This requires that the services provided by the government should be efficient and cost-effective.

The Minister reminded the attendance with the project of H. Majesty King Hamd Bin Issa Al Khalifa which was presented to the GGC summit conference held in Riyadh concerning the issuance of a unified ID card for the GCC citizens to facilitate the procedures of movement and work. The project was recently adopted by most of the Gulf countries subsequent to the design of a special program that can read the unified ID card by the experts of E-Government Authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is worth mentioning that the e-government of Bahrain issued an ID card in the name of H. H Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, had presented it to His Highness.

The CEO of E-Government Agency in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, remarked that the participation of the Authority in GITEX Exhibit is an opportunity that contributes to the improvement of the technological indexes, especially the one related to the UN and the other international indexes.

He added that our participation in the exhibition gives an opportunity to examine other innovations, and to benefit from them, comparing them to our self-experiment in terms of the quality and means of providing e-services and e-products. Such procedure aims at improving the outstanding aspects and enriching the experiments of Bahrain towards more developed advancements. Furthermore, the periodic participation supports our plans concerning the self-completion and the provision of more advanced and developed services.

He added that many of exhibitors and visitors praised the distinguished experiment of the E-Government in the Kingdom of Bahrain. They were encouraged to visit the kingdom to be acquainted with and benefit from our advances. He clarified that the early establishment of infrastructure in the Kingdom of Bahrain has a valuable impact upon the implementation of the Kingdom's strategy and vision concerning the development of services and in achieving objectives smoothly. The CEO stated that the achievement of Asian leadership is a main objective for the strategy of Bahrain, which seeks to be ranked among the five best Asian countries and the first country in the Gulf region regarding the readiness index of the E-Government in the UN by 2010.

At the same time, the kingdom endeavors to get two international awards in this field, wherein two E-Government projects in Bahrain could obtain an international appreciation for good practice in the use of state-of-the-art technologies for the provision of governmental services. The evaluation of the E-Government issued by the UN - which is considered as an international standard used to evaluate the countries' communication, infrastructure, human resources development and the service available on line - is taken by the Bahraini government to measure the success attained in this field and to reach to an outstanding level. It is believed that the government program will result in the improvement of the evaluation process and in measuring the progress index, which can be done by comparing the achievements of the Kingdom of Bahrain with the other countries.