MANAMA: The Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2014 concluded on Wednesday with a positive note to keep momentum of hosting such strategically important events in Bahrain.
The Forum for the 7th consecutive year held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology.
The three-day event attracted 5,000 delegates and 67 speakers who addressed the eight parallel workshops and Bahrain IT Expo 2014 which were held in the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) on 22nd and 23rd April.
The opening ceremony was attended by 850 delegates including deputy prime ministers, ministers, Council of Representatives, Shura Council members, a number of diplomats, ICT stakeholders, along with participants representing 16 countries which include GCC, Korea, Lebanon, Palestine and Morocco. The opening announced the launch of the National Portal Plus and the honoring of the eGovernment Excellence Award 2014 winners.
Additionally, 690 local and international delegates participated in the workshops along with 10 forum sessions which directly followed the opening ceremony. The sessions were discussed by elite global speakers and specialists who spoke about various topics related to the latest trends in ICT and public services through 75 discussion paperworks. Numerous private and NGO institutions, eGovernment Authority and international organizations took part in the organization of the forum’s activities. Such participation came about to enhance partnership and expand in organizing similar events.
NGO entities partnered with various international organizations in organizing workshops. Such organizations include ISACA – Bahrain Chapter, Social Media Club, Bahrain Information Technology Society, Bahrain Internet Society, along with Learning Tree International and Thin Slices, and UNIDO.
Bahrain IT Expo’s space doubled this year to 2,400 square meters with the participation of 92 exhibitors from Bahrain and abroad representing public and private sector, educational institutions and NGOs. Over 3,500 audience visited the expo and workshops over the two days. The expo launched new applications including the Civil Service Bureau Service by the Civil Service Bureau, the Ministry of Work’s application entitled Fix2Go, along with Profile Manager by the eGovernment Authority which enables users to manage all payment applications through the portal; the University of Bahrain also launched an application that guides users to the main attractions and places in Bahrain.
The IT Expo was an opportunity to showcase the latest in technology, and new partnership agreements were signed by Bahrain Islamic Bank, Microsoft and the eGovernment Authority. The private sector occupied the major part of the exhibition with the participating of 38 exhibitors, in addition to five NGOs and two universities.
The last day of the forum continued the seven parallel workshops along with the eighth workshop entitled Innovation and Entrepreneurship in ICT Environment Forum which was part of the forum activities.