Geneva: The Kingdom of Bahrain has committed to the telecommunication utilization for the purpose of achieving sustainable development and setting the national economy’s wheel in motion in a bid to attract capital and investment to the Kingdom.
This was stated by the eGovernment Authority (eGA) Deputy CEO and head of Bahrain delegation Dr. Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja, in a speech delivered on day one of the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS +10) convened in Geneva, and highlighted the targets set out in the World Summit’s plans and to the information technology and that also to boost citizens’ quality of life – a course of action typically followed by developed countries.
“We reiterate our gratification of sharing with the international community in development and review of IT at the global level, in addition to the applications of international developmental work plans aiming to upgrade the IT and Telecom sector”, referring to Bahrain’s latest revision of its national strategic priorities so to align them with the latest international trends aiming to make knowledge and IT and Telecom capabilities in the service of IT societies for development of peoples, and that Bahrain has set a governance framework for the efficient use of IT,” Dr. Zakareya, added. He also touched upon the way forward for information technology and its contribution to growth of international communities, major international challenges facing IT, the telecom sector and its future as viewed by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Dr. Al Khaja said that governments, regionally and globally, have been adopting main trends that form the next generation of IT, telecom and eGovernment – from the perspective of transparency and encouragement of open source data in a bid to support innovation and entrepreneurship as well as establish ongoing communication and dialogue with the public in order to enhance public unanimous agreement and freedoms; along with the use of mobile network towers to provide more government services and bring more investments to electronic security.
Dr. Al Khaja also participated in the discussions of day three as a speaker to a workshop organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), in which he elaborated on the experience of Bahrain in IT governance, the eGovernment Authority’s role as well as regional and global partnerships. He also commented on the support provided by the leadership and decision-makers of IT and Telecom High Committee chaired by Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, the Deputy Prime Minister. During the workshop, he discussed the eGovernment Authority’s framework and the possibility of having an easy access to IT via different channels.
eGA eServices Delivery and Channel Enhancement Assistant Director Mr. Mohamed Abdulaziz participated as speaker on day three of the summit, where he reviewed Bahrain’s experience in the process of managing suggestions and complaints via the Tawasul system, in a workshop organized by the UN-DESA under the title ‘ICT Applications Aimed at Improving Peoples’ Lives on All Aspects’.
eGA’s Marketing and Awareness Directorate Chief of Customer Service Ali Darwish delivered an official speech on day four, portraying the experience of eGovernment in bridging the digital gap through Qudurat program for eTraining, during a workshop organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Bahrain has participated in the WSIS+10 organized by the ITU in Geneva over the period 10-13 June, in cooperation with UNISCO, UNCTAD, UNDP along with other UN organizational bodies.