Ministers highlight commitment to providing best services, improving standards

Manama, Oct. 6 (BNA): Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa highlighted the importance of the Government Forum to develop the government service to complete what has been built since 2016 until now. The minister affirmed that the citizen is the core and the ultimate objective of all the work that has been steadily gaining in vogour over the years. Shaikh Khalid added that the government forum is one of the vital platforms that contribute to enhancing the performance of the public sector in accordance with the highest levels of coordination, achieve strategic goals and continue to develop government services in various sectors. It also reinforces endeavours towards the development of outputs and dealing with various challenges by turning them into opportunities, according to the government's approach, the minister said on the sidelines of the 2019 Government Forum. When asked about the formation of a team to follow up on the recommendations of the forum, the minister said: "We are talking about government action in a phase of change that is taking place day by day, and the follow-up on the recommendations continues." Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed said the forum is very important for the government. “All the government entities come together to share their plans, issues and concerns, and we can solve lots of issues from this event," he said after receiving two awards for customer support via Tawasul. "I am pleased today to receive two awards for the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications. I think we are the only ministry that received two awards for Tawasul programme, which means that we are excellent in interacting with our customers and all the citizens when they complain, when they suggest something," he said. One of the awards is for an application that the ministry created for flight operations called Al Nawras. "Our plans keep changing and improving because we have our strategy. We regularly every year review it and upgrade it. We remove what we’ve accomplished, and we put new initiatives to be accomplished during the next phases. Currently we have a number of projects under the civil aviation and the air, land, and sea transport as well as telecom,” he said. “I am sure all of you heard about what we’ve achieved in Bahrain by starting the 5G network a few months ago; the network will enable Bahrain to realize the digital economy to get the benefit of digital transformation," he said. "You heard yesterday that there was an operational testing for the new airport; next month we will appoint the transaction advisor for the metro project. At the end of this month you will hear good news about King Hamad project between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, we will also announce its transaction advisor," the minister said. The Education Ministry was one of the ministries which were recognized for its Customer Service Excellence Award. The achievements of the Education Ministry during one year are the improvement of a suitable educational environment for all students, where several schools were closed for maintenance, in cooperation with Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, the construction of new buildings to accommodate all students, and the ministry has restructured the schools and provided places for students. Education Minister Dr. Majid bin Ali Al-Nuaimi said that the high number of students in a classroom was a challenge. The choice was either the safety of the students or a high number of students, he said. "We cannot take any risk regarding the safety of students and so we moved them to other buildings." Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani said that this year is the third year in a row that the ministry receives the award of "Tawasul", which is the annual harvest of all government entities regarding interaction with customers. "We are a service ministry, our communication with customers and the private sector is important in our work. We benefit from their reactions to improve the level of service in the ministry," he said.