eGovt meet inaugurated
Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa inaugurated the 4th GCC eGovernment Award, Conference and Exhibition 2015 here at ART Rotana Hotel yesterday.
The event is organised by the Informatics and eGovernment Authority.
In his address, Shaikh Mohammed revealed his pleasure in patronising the event on behalf of Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. He said that since 2005, the government had been working on enhancing the eTransformation.
“Through the Informatics and eGovernment Authority, Bahrain was able to deliver large number of online services to citizens and residents.”
Shaikh Mohammed pointed out the achievements of the Kingdom within the most recent United Nations eGovernment Survey of 2014. Bahrain ranked first in the Middle East and the Arab World in addition to 18th globally within the eGovernment Readiness Index.
Kamal Ahmed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, said the international community looked upon Bahrain as one of the advanced countries standing side-by-side with other nations in the ICT sector.
“Owing to the government’s support and the SCICT's follow-up, the Kingdom was capable of surpassing these countries by providing cutting-edge as well as highly- efficient eServices which reflected citizens’ directions towards electronic utilization. Such outcome resulted in the increase of customer satisfaction index concerning offered public services,” he commented.
The Minister remarked that the GCC countries had achieved remarkable accomplishments in this sector as they noticeably succeeded doing so during a record time.
Meanwhile, European Commission Joint Research Centre Senior Scientist Dr. Gianluca Misuraca said: “I have witnessed positive changes and great improvements in Bahrain as well as the region which had achieved remarkable UN rankings within the recent reports.” He explained the European Union’s experiences, its new trends as well as the collaboration and GCC advancements within the eGovernment sector. He also highlighted how such collaboration together with the implementation of new trends had improved each of the member states’ competences within this field.
At the event, the Deputy Premier honoured the winners of the GCC eGovernment Award 2015. Categories included Best eGovernment Website that awarded the winning projects “National Centre for Statistics Website” by the National Centre for Statistics and Information from Sultanate of Oman; “Ministry of Health Website” project by Bahrain’s Ministry of Health; along with “Safe Space” by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology from Qatar.
The Best eGovernment Integrated Services – Individual/ Business Sector category was seized by the sole winning project “Sanad” submitted by AlRaffd Fund from Oman.
The Best eGovernment Service for Business Sector category was won by three winning projects – “Dubai Trade” by Dubai Trade of Dubai Customs from United Arab Emirates (UAE); “Invest Easy” by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade from Oman; along with the “Business Licensing Integrated System” project by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce from the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The Best eGovernment eService category encompassed the “Ministry of Youth and Sports Services” project by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, Bahrain; the “Commercial License Registration Renewal and Update” project contributed by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce from Saudi Arabia; together with the “Self Service Machines – Kiosks” project by Public Prosecutor from Qatar.
“Bayanati” project by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, participating from the United Arab Emirates was the first of two winners in the category Best Government-to- Government eService; in addition to the “National Payment Aggregator” project submitted by the Informatics and eGovernment Authority, Bahrain.
The category Best Practice in Community eParticipation comprised three winners of “Public Authority for Consumer Protection” by the Public Authority for Consumer Protection, Oman; “eParticipation”
project by the Ministry of Interior, UAE and “Sahem Fi AlTashree” project by the entity Kuwait National Assembly from Kuwait.
The Best Application for Smart Devices category involved four winners: “Darb” by the Department of Transport, Abu Dhabi from UAE; “Metrash 2” by the Ministry of Interior, Qatar; “Ministry of Interior” app by Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior and “Safeer Mobile App” by Saudi Ministry of Education.
“Monafasat” by the Ministry of Finance from Saudi Arabia was the first winner in the category Best Whole-of-Government National eProject.
Shaikh Mohammed also inaugurated an exhibition, which included the participation of 18 government entities, which sought to exhibit their experiences and projects in the eGovernment sector.
The first day of the event included conference sessions covered by the “Glance at eGovernment Development on the European Union” by Dr. Misuraca, “Business Licensing Integrated System” by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia’s “Justice Portal,” UAE’s “Dubai’s Smart Training Initiative,” Oman’s “Community Participation of Omani Shura,” Qatar’s “Mawared Programme” and Kuwait’s “GCC Environmental Portal.”
Photo Caption: Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa inaugurates the 4th GCC eGo- vernment Award, Conference and Exhibition 2015
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