Bahrain shines in e-Government

Manama, July 31 (BNA): Bahrain has maintained its leading status in e-Government for the fourth time in a row, as revealed by the United Nations eGovernment Survey 2016. According to the report, the kingdom ranked first at the level of Arab countries for the second consecutive time, and 24th at the international level in the e-Government Readiness Index, ahead of the UAE (29th), Kuwait (40th), Saudi Arabia (44th), Qatar (48th) and Oman (66th). The survey, which covered 193 countries, showed that Bahrain has made remarkable progress in the ICT Infrastructure index after moving from the 26th position in 2014 to 11th in 2016. The kingdom also ranked 77th in Human Capital Index and 22nd in the e-Services Index. It also made significant progress in the e-Participation Index. Commenting on the milestone results, CEO of the Informatics and e-Government Authority, Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, asserted that the kingdom’s achievements were the fruitful outcome of the directives of the leadership, and the support of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT), chaired by Deputy Premier HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. He affirmed that the kingdom had succeeded in maintaining its leading positions despite the challenges imposed by the state budget.