Bahrain hailed for strengthening cooperation and exchange of experiences with Arab countries

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s efforts to strengthen cooperation and exchange of experiences with Arab countries in the field of e-government was praised by speakers and participants during a regional workshop.

A virtual Regional eGovernment Experts workshop was held to provide vital inputs to improve eGovernment Development Indicators for the upcoming United Nations eGovernment Survey Report 2022, a globally recognised index and benchmark on the development of eGovernment.

The workshop, organised under the patronage of iGA Chief Executive Mohammed Al Qaed, brought senior UNDESA officials, leaders of digital government in the Arab and Gulf region, ICT experts, decision-makers, academicians, researchers, government officials and practitioners across the globe. iGA held an engaging and productive discussion with the participants.

The event granted the participants deep insights into the achievements of GCC countries in the digital government field as well as the ways to address the issues and challenges pertaining to UN eGovernment indicators. In his opening remarks, Al Qaed talked about the significance of the UN eGovernment Development Report and how it paves the way for the future direction of the Digital Government.

He added that the UN eGovernment Report provides visionary directions to set the international ICT Trends. He stressed the importance of cooperation between the GCC and Arab region and UNDESA.

The region takes the report seriously by embedding it in their national strategies and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). He discussed the major technological advancements such as 5 G, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence that has been implemented in many countries across the region and how ICT advancements have accelerated the diversification of the economy in many countries in the region.

Al Qaed stressed how technological advancement had supported the government’s effort to address the challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he highlighted the importance of reflecting the regional challenges and technological advancement aspirations in the UN Report.

In his keynote speech, Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief, Digital Government Branch, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) provided a glimpse of the Global eGovernment scenario and the methodology associated with various components of eGovernment development components such as Online Service Index (OSI), Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) and Human Capital Index (HCI).

He also highlighted the proposed improvements in the Online Service Index and other pilot initiatives including the use of AI for more effective groupings of member states. The digital leaders of eGovernment in the GCC and Morocco presented their digital achievements and their plans with the participation of Egypt and Jordan.