Praise for royal directives on digital transformation

TDT | Manama      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Minister of Interior, His Excellency General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, commended the royal directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on digital transformation and expanding e-services to ensure digital sustainability and cybersecurity, supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah, also Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), was speaking as he chaired the committee’s meeting. The committee reviewed the agenda’s topics and approved the minutes of the last meeting.

They reviewed initiatives and outcomes of the General Assembly meeting of the Digital Cooperation Organisation, and discussed the latest progress in implementing the Cabinet’s decision to develop 500 government services.

The committee also reviewed the latest phases of the Digital Economy Strategy and the Digital Transformation Plan for Government Services 2020-2024, in which the meeting agreed to develop 100 government services and the service of issuing birth certificates electronically.

Identity card services

The meeting approved the identity card services outside Bahrain, including renewing and replacing lost ID cards. They announced the implementation of a proposal for digital accreditation of government documents.

According to digital transformation accomplishments, there are more than 680 government e-services in various channels, and the use of digital transactions reached 89% in 2023. The government e-portal attracted around 19 million visits, and 66 integrated services, 16 e-systems, and four smart apps were launched.

Operations and governance sector

The committee discussed the operations and governance sector, in which the capacity increased to 20 million. They also reviewed the completion of the linkage between GCC countries through the “Zajil” network, the activation of the cloud service backups, the training of government employees on artificial intelligence tools, and the finalisation of the Botanical Atlas Project.

The committee was briefed on the latest developments regarding the graduation of the first batch of the technological skills programme and their recruitment in the public and private sectors.