MANAMA: The Kingdom of Bahrain which ranked 7th globally in online service index reiterated pledge to maintain its status with focus on improving on all fronts in future.
Minister of Transportation, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed told reporters that he was overwhelmed with the achievements but Bahrain would continue to strive hard maintaining the rankings in addition to improving the status further.
Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed announced that the Kingdom was ranked 1st amongst the Middle, South and West Asia, Africa, Middle East, East Europe, Middle America and Latin America, in addition to Caribbean; advancing to rank 18 in eGovernment index worldwide, comparing to it 36th rank in the previous report by moving 18 points ahead of several European and Asian countries in this field.
He stressed that the achievement made by the Kingdom of Bahrain in the 2014 UN eGovernment Survey reflects directives of the wise leadership of Bahrain to boost customer satisfaction for government services in terms of integration and comprehensive accessibility, employing latest technologies in strengthening principles of equity and transparency when providing services to citizens.
He was speaking during the press conference held on Monday to discuss the results achieved by Bahrain in the UN eGovernment report, in presence of eGovernment Authority CEO Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, TRA Chairman Dr Mohammed Al Amer and senior officials from government entities which had contributed to such advancement.
The Minister expressed his pride in this spectacular achievement and Bahrain’s success in retaining its first rank among Arab countries in eGovernment Index and was ranked amongst the top advanced countries in the world within this category which was only achieved by 25 countries in the world.
Bahrain’s government has supported the concept of eGovernment as a tool for economic development that can be achieved through the completion of several requirements being the establishment of a sophisticated technological infrastructure and the provision of telecom service to all. Along with following a strategy that aims at making all society members qualified at utilizing and benefiting from the computer and the Internet.
This year’s results have come to reflect the planning and systematic work based on clear-cut principles and objectives, as adopted by the government of Bahrain in this respect.
The Minister extended his thanks to the governmental entities that had contributed to the advancement of the country’s rank. Such entities include the Education, Health, Social Development, and Finance Ministry; Labour Market Regulatory Authority; Supreme Council for the Environment; along with supporting websites such as the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife; the Tender Board, and the Royal Charity Organization, Tamkeen, and EduNet (Ministry of Education).
eGovernment Authority CEO Mohammed Ali Al Qaed has presented the details of key indices obtained by Bahrain and the GCC countries; pointing out that this year’s report for the first time praised the efforts exerted by the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology in addition to the establishment and role of the eGovernment Authority in implementing an integrated eGovernment strategy.
Al Qaed further continued that within the Online Service Index, Bahrain was able to maintain its 7th position, making it 1st among Arab countries and 3rd among the Asian, with increase in ranking from 86% to 93% this year. The index was based on a set of key components, being the integration of government, delivery of multi-channel services, bridging the digital gap, increasing utilization ratio and the publicly available government data as well as eParticipation.
AlQaed also stated the remarkable developments achieved by the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index where Bahrain was ranked 26th globally, following its 63rd place in the 2012 report. This index measures individual using the Internet, fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions, wireless broadband subscriptions, fixed-telephone subscriptions, and mobile-cellular subscriptions. The 2012 report only accounted for fixed-line internet and broadband, without taking wireless Internet into consideration.
Bahrain was ranked 58 within the Human Capital Index, compared to its 90th position in the previous report. This index measures adult literacy, gross enrolment ratio, expected years of schooling, and mean years of schooling.
On the eParticipation index, which is a supplementary indication calculated within the Online Services Index, Bahrain increased in ranking percentage from 65% to 82%, and ranked 14th globally.
AlQaed pointed out the efforts paid to develop the index in the period between the issuance of reports (2012 and 2014) reflected by the support, assistance and guidance of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister Chairman of Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology. Specialized committees were formed to look into the causes behind the retreat and to continue development efforts.
The report emphasized that Bahrain is among the countries that have powerful policies, as evidenced in the progress it has made in the field of open data and the fact that this policy reflects Bahrain’s keenness to promote community participation with the involvement of the private sector through the deployment of government databases and the enabling of electronic development, as well as contribution to the promotion of government transparency and public participation.
The Kingdom is the only Arab state which obtained very high EGDI (eGovernment Development Index) where it attained 80.9% above the worldwide average index 47%. 13% of 193 UN member states obtained the first category, while the remaining three categories include high, middle, and low EGDI countries.
Within the 25 Small Island Developing States, the report ranked Bahrain 2nd following Singapore amongst the first category states in its readiness.
The report also classified Bahrain among the top countries in delivering eServices to the elderly segment of the society, has integrated service delivery channels also among the leading countries in eParticipation and Open Data. Remarkably, the report mentioned Bahrain International eGovernment Forum, organized every year by eGA, as one of the leading regional events that focus on the latest in ICT.