IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Mr. Nezar Maroof, Director, Enterprise Architecture and Information Technology at the eGovernment Authority honored winners who provided innovative proposals in the field of open data platform, included: Musaab Ziad, Meshari Fakhroo, Asmaa Althawadi, Sameeha Hussain, Emrah Omuris, Jameshaid Rasheed and Khalid Al-Mushari.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ghanim Al Buainain said the eGovernment initiative has helped in streamlining procedures and save time for citizens in getting services.

He was addressing a ministerial meeting of the Asian Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Implementing the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister; as well as resuming the Coordinating Committee's Plan, eight governmental entities recently joined the National Suggestions and Complaints System 'Tawasul', bringing the number of entities which receive the public's suggestions, inquiries and complaints electronically through 'Tawasul' to 21 entities.

The event, organised by the ICT Knowledge Club, covered topics which involved restrictions facing the private sector to access government electronic services and the role of communication companies in supporting co-operation between the private and public sectors.

The Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, yesterday launched Kingdom’s Private Notary Electronic Services aimed at further boosting the government’s role as a regulator.

The system was developed in line with the directives of the Executive Committee - chaired by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister. The move allows the Ministry of Justice to centrally control notary transaction numbers and improve security standards by printing a two-dimensional barcode for verification of notarized documents.

The Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) has unveiled major achievements in implementing its 2019 eGovernment Strategy, most notably the reengineering of 40 eServices, which allowed for an 88 per cent reduction in the costs of providing the government services, and a 74 per cent reduction in processing times. Across all channels, iGA eServices generated BD156 million through more than 1.6m transactions during the year. iGA Chief Executive Mohammed Ali AlQaed announced the results at a press conference yesterday detailing the achievements of the 2019 eGovernment Strategy.

Eskan Bank provides nine banking eservices to its clients on Bahrain.bh that include account summary, transactions history, housing loan, loan overdue, returned cheques, official statements, alternative payer, repayment calculator and beneficiary information.

The eGovernment Authority (eGA) has announced it is organising a workshop entitled 'Holistic Business Process Management: Improvement to Transformation'.

It will be held as part of the eighth edition of the Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2015, on March 15, under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister and Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.

Such ministries include the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Social Development.

In line with the National Day celebrations, and in an initiative that aims at providing free access to E-government services to citizens and residents, Batelco, Bahrain's leading internet service provider and eGovernment Authority (eGA) jointly entered into a collaboration that will provide - for the first time - free web access to the E-Government portal & Ministry websites for all Batelco fixed line and mobile customers. This would include all web pages and electronic services provided from within the portals. The free access will also include those who do not have an active fixed broadband or mobile data subscription with Batelco.

As part of the launch, the GOP held a training session for all shipowners registered in Bahrain to introduce them to the GOP’s new Ship Registry Portal (SRP).

The official website of the Government Forum 2016 was launched yesterday. The forum will be held on September 18 in Shaikh Isa Cultural Hall under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier.

Chief Executive of the Informatics and eGovernment Authority Mohammed Ali Al Qaed described the authority's participation in creating the website as an honour given the importance of the forum which brings together ministers, assistant undersecretaries and directors from all ministries and government institutions. He pointed out that the authority had created the website and developed it in a comprehensive way, adding that work is still on to update it and post daily information about the forum.

Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, and the Information & eGovernment Authority (IGA) recently conducted a knowledge sharing session at the airline’s Muharraq headquarters to raise awareness and facilitate understanding of the protection of state information and documents, in line with the State Secrets law.

Gulf Air A/Chief Executive Officer Maher Salman Al Musallam spoke of the session: "It is of critical importance that Gulf Air’s management team and the airline’s entire workforce, have the capabilities and knowledge to collect, classify and maintain information securely and responsibly - protecting and securing the airline’s information in all its forms to ensure there is no misuse. Such knowledge sharing sessions help us work together to secure all Gulf Air information and ensure the airline’s compliance with information handling requirements."

During the meeting, His Highness praised the Kingdom of Bahrains accomplished feat this year in terms of winning the topmost UN Public Service Award 2012 for the category of advanced knowledge in the government in consideration for the National Zajil E-Correpondence Project.

The Technopreneur Bahrain programme aims to support and foster information and communications technology (ICT) innovative ideas and initiatives of Bahraini youths by providing training, consultancy, financing and incubation services.

Total cost of the project is BD178,360 (seed funding up to BD20,000 per project), aiming to turn ideas into successful business ventures.

he Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive Mohamed Ali AlQaed has announced a series of key projects achieved in the past year (2018), which had mainly and effectively contributed in implementing the Fiscal Balance Programme amongst government’s action plans.

Mr AlQaed stressed that the Authority pays great attention to implement government directives under the supervision and leadership of Government Executive Committee chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa - the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister – along with directives of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) - chaired by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak AlKhalifa, Deputy Prime Minister – as well as support of Lieutenant-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla AlKhalifa – Minister of Interior – in raising the efficiency of public services, delivering them with the highest quality standards, speed and accuracy – meeting needs of individuals and entities as well as raising the level of customer satisfaction on delivered services.

The Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) has launched the Government Directory mobile app, on the eGovernment Apps Store at bahrain.bh/apps, which provides a comprehensive set of officials’ contact details, along with government entities locations and social media accounts.

In this regard, Mr. Mohammed Abdulaziz Acting Director of eServices & Channel Enhancement at iGA stated that the app is part of the direct government communication series with citizens and residents, as it provides contact details of senior public officials – ministers, deputy ministers, undersecretaries, chief executive officers, advisors, directors and acting directors. Such initiative is in line with the wise leadership directives which constantly stresses the open door policy with the public. Mr. Abdulaziz also highlighted that the mobile application comprise contact details of nearly 700 employees from 55 entities.

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) announced yesterday that it is assisting government entities with their transition to remote work. This follows the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to implement remote work when possible.

The iGA will provide access to Microsoft Teams, a unified communication and collaboration platform, to effectively manage virtual teams, alongside publishing instructions to optimise the use of all features, including visual and audio conferencing, chats, and file-sharing.

Government digital transformation efforts are proceeding at breakneck speed, as reflected by the quarterly eServices statistics report, which recorded a 20 fold surge in government mobile application usage available in the eGovernment App store bahrain.bh/apps , compared to the same Five-month period last year.

Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Deputy Chief Executive of Electronic Transformation, Dr. Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah revealed that the report, covering the months from April to August 2020, also found that more than 800,000 government transactions were processed through all channels, with online payments exceeding BD 57 million across all digital channels.

The minister outlined the development of the National e-Participation Strategy as well as the way the official authorities and non-governmental parties deal with cutting edge technologies and new media. The Ministry of Information Affairs has been assigned to coordinate with the e-Government Authority in implementing the national strategy and upgrading media and cyber communication.