The centre, designed to help governments across the GCC establish and roll out e-government projects, is being created jointly by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), IBM and Gulf Business Machines (GBM). The announcement was made during a conference on "Open Government" held at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa yesterday.
It was organised by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), jointly with IBM, and was held under the patronage of CIO president Shaikh Mohammed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa.
This will be the third such centre in the world , after the US and Germany, to be established by IBM, said CIO Under Secretary Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa.
"Once established, it will be hosted by the CIO and supported by the IBM e-government centre in Berlin, Germany," he told a Press conference.
"This will help create a unified e-government platform that shares experience, technologies and practice between our countries. The centre is a concrete step in that direction."
CIO employees will be permanently based at the centre, where new resources, developments and practices will be updated constantly, said Shaikh Ahmed.
"All GCC e-government teams will have access to centre resources and expertise," he noted.
"The centre will play a major role in offering competence for public sector organisations in the GCC states," said IBM Software Group vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa Tom Francese.
GBM has worked extensively with IBM and its public sector customers across the region as they drive to develop national e-government initiatives, said chief executive officer Cesare Cardone.
The conference , which was designed to share practice, experience and expertise from e-government experts from the UK, Germany and Bahrain, was attended by representatives of GCC governments.
Opening the event, Shaikh Mohammed said Bahrain's e-government project was currently at an advanced stage of evaluation for a national smartcard.
"We have a strategic partnership with IBM, and together we have already installed the e-government hardware and software platforms," he revealed.
"Improvements have already been implemented that allow ministries to access central databanks via a new gateway.
"This integration gateway will continually ensure that Open Government services and facilities are available to all regardless of technical burdens such as language support, vendor solution, hardware or software platforms."
Quelle: Daily News, 11.03.2004
