The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Hongbo Wu, honoured eGovernment Authority Deputy CEO Dr. Zakareya Ahmed AlKhaja during the 2014 Global eGovernment Forum held in Kazakhstan, in recognition for Bahrain’s exceptional achievements, which is by obtaining advanced rankings in the United Nations eGovernment 2014, showing a progress of 18 points ahead of many European and Asian countries in this field
This recognition is awarded by the UN, for countries that have strived to leapfrog in their eGovernment development and be able to achieve outstanding progress by revamping their government portals and IT projects, in addition to their concern on strengthening strategies by placing greater emphasis on linking the government structures in such a manner to enhance their online presence as a unified entity.
Dr. Zakareya Al-Khaja expressed his pride towards the milestone achievements gained by Bahrain and noted that this represented yet another step forward, in addition to a series of accomplishments achieved by the eGovernment Authority globally, reflecting Bahrain’s capabilities to maintain effective competition at the international arena.
Dr. Al-Khaja emphasized that this recognition proves to be extremely valuable, as Bahrain has climbed to an advanced position out of 193 countries worldwide as per the United Nations eGovernment Survey.
He also said that this achievement was due to the wise leadership that has spared no effort to support and guide the eGovernment Authority under Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology.
Dr. Al-Khaja further stated that the three-day forum is replete with events which can be used as a platform for sharing expertise and knowledge among the States, allowing a wider scope for new developments that can be utilized in eGovernance as a starting point towards further progressing the eGovernment, in particular and in reference to the Smart Governance for Sustainable Development: New Opportunities for Partnerships in the Networked Society», upon which this year’s slogan revolves around.
It’s worth mentioning that Kingdom of Bahrain has participated throughout the first day of the Forum, in the ministerial roundtable that was organized and managed by the United Nations. In which Dr. Zakareya has participated by highlighting the Kingdom of Bahrain’s experience in the field of eGovernment and focusing on national projects, mainly on the National Suggestions and Complaints System (Tawasul). In addition a project named as (Zajel), as well as the eKey project, to name a few, of the other initiatives that directly and positively affect the citizen’s interest, and offering governmental services with absolute efficiency carried out with the best quality.
It should be noted that, the 2014 Global eGovernment Forum was be held from Monday to Wednesday, organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and in partnership with Agency for Communication and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.