The workshop was attended by senior representatives of governmental entities such as the Ministries of Industry and Commerce, Finance, Transportation along with Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission, Central Informatics Organization, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), Supreme Judicial Council, Public Prosecution, Central Bank of Bahrain, as well as Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
At the end of the workshop, eGovernment Authority CEO Mohammed Ali AlQaed recapped that the cyber legislations should be updated in compliance with the requirements of the National eGovernment Strategy 2016 and the workshop agreed in principle on the setting-up a sustainable framework to support the continuos development for cyber laws in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“We strongly believe that the electronic and information regulatory laws establish the cornerstone for the delivery of eGovernment services. Developing regulatory frameworks and laws for information and communication technology (ICT) is necessary to face new technological challenges,” AlQaed, said.
He praised ESCWA’s committee for its role in giving insights of the regulatory legislations pertaining to eTransactions that are carried out in cyberspace and in publishing guidelines on how to protect personal data, privacy, confidentiality, freedom of expression, as well as free access to information and electronic signature.
“The meeting was meaningful, promising and fruitful in enhancing the ICT applications within the private sector, reducing the legal divide and facilitating eTransactions between Arab states and developing countries,” Al-Qaed, said.
The Lead Counsel of the World Bank (USA) David Satola shared the bank’s experience on the importance of having a suitable Cyber Law framework and the economic benefits, where he focused on the lessons learnt and how to emerge best practices seen from previous countries.
ESCWA’s Chief of Information and Communication Technology Applications Section Dr. Nibal Idlebi discussed her paper of the conclusions reached in relation to the study project on the Regional Harmonization of Cyber Legislation to promote the knowledge society in the Arab world.
Cybercrime Research Institute (Institut fuer Medienstrafrecht) Director Dr. Marco Gerke from Germany presented his paper of the international and regional benchmarks on the importance of having a robust cyber law legal framework, in addition to emerging trends in cybercrime and development of the framework.
The presentations and working papers were followed by discussion sessions which the participants agrered in principle to consider the regional guidelines for the harmonization of the cyber legislations in an effort to contribute in the building process to create the basis needed to provide an able environment with focus on how to facilitate and accelerate the ICT and its applications as an enabler for growth in the ICT field.
“The Kingdom has participated in the meetings held by ICTD on the Regional Harmonization of Cyber Legislation to promote the knowledge society in the Arab world; contribute to boost and improve regional integration; enhance capabilities of the member states for the development of knowledge society; as well as build a stronger and sustainable sector in the ICT field through developing regulatory and legal frameworks.”