Bahrain to host ground-breaking government technology forum

Convened under the official patronage of H.E. Dr Hassan Abdulla Fakhro, Minister of Industry & Commerce, Kingdom of Bahrain, and supported by the Central Informatics Organisation, Government Technology Middle East (GOVTEC) is designed to bring the region's public sector IT decision-makers face-to-face with leading international technology vendors from around the world.

"Public sector enterprises have always been a key driver of the region's IT demand. As their technology requirements become more sophisticated, there is clearly a need for an IT event exclusively focused on this sector. GOVTEC is being launched to fill this important niche," said Shaikh Duaij bin Salman Al Khalifa, Asst Undersecretary for Foreign Trade at Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Vice Chairman of the Bahrain Convention & Exhibition Bureau (BCEB), while addressing a press conference in Manama today.

The launch of GOVTEC comes in the wake of rising technology investments by the region's public sector enterprises.

"With stronger emphasis on good governance, elimination of bureaucracy and transparency, the region's governments are investing heavily on upgrading their IT infrastructures and rolling out e-government programmes," said Paul Stott, Managing Director of UK-based Media Generation Exhibitions Ltd, the event organisers working in association with the BCEB. "According to IDC, the public sector will represent the region's second largest industry vertical after the finance sector in terms of overall IT investments over the next five years. It is estimated that public sector spending on IT will range between US$800 - US$900 million in 2005-2006."

"Most government departments within the region outsource the bulk of their IT projects. This translates into a huge opportunity for technology providers and makes the region one of the world's most attractive public sector IT markets."

This prestigious conference is being produced under the guidance of Dubai-based ITP Events. Featuring over 25 expert speakers, this conference will focus on the most pressing technology challenges facing public administrators, including the development of next generation government architecture; proprietary versus open source software; public sector IT governance; citizen-centric government; public private partnership; e-learning; e-health; mobile government; and security for government systems.

The GOVTEC conference will be supported by a highly focused exhibition featuring a wide array of specialised technology solutions for the public sector, including CRM and contact centres; data protection; database tools and operating systems; disaster recovery and business continuity; e-learning; GIS; information security; knowledge, records and document management; outsourcing; e-procurement; systems and enterprise application integration; web, Internet and ASP services; and workflow management, among others.

"While there are quite a few generic e-government conferences in the region, GOVTEC 2006 is the only integrated exhibition and conference on public sector technology. For technology vendors eyeing multi-million dollars worth of government contracts, this is an unrivalled opportunity to meet with and showcase their solutions to a highly qualified audience of public sector decision-makers," said Paul Stott.

According to organisers, early response leading up to the formal launch has been encouraging, with Microsoft Corporation signaling its support by signing on as a Headline Sponsor.

"We are delighted to participate in GOVTEC as a Headline Sponsor. This event could not have launched at a better time as we celebrate the second anniversary of our Enterprise Agreement with the Government of Bahrain," said Samir Benmakhlouf, Country Manager, Microsoft Bahrain. "Microsoft is proud to have partnered with many governments in the region to help them meet their specific challenges and achieve their e-government and governance objectives. Our participation at GOVTEC reaffirms our continued commitment to the public sector, and we look forward to utilising this new platform to identify and develop new partnership opportunities."

GOVTEC will run at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre from 13-15 February, 2006 concurrently with MEFTEC, the region's largest dedicated IT event for the financial industry.