e-Government Experience in Bahrain Praised

Manama, April 12. (BNA) – Speakers at the Bahrain e-Government Forum 2012 have expressed their appreciation to the event organisers, noting that the kingdom's hosting of such a forum has offered attendants a good opportunity to take advantage of ICT pioneers' rich experience and expertise.

For Stefan Gehrke, Founding Member and Chairman of Open the Open Data Networks in Germany, who is paying his first ever to the region, asserted that Bahrain's experience in the field of open data is "unique", expressing confidence that the kingdom will succeed in the new phase in which open data will be developed, which, he said, was outlined the new National Strategy of the e-Government Authority.

As to the CEO of KindredHQ Ms. Alex Butler who presented a paper entitled "Innovation in Government: Why entrepreneurial thinking is so important?", she praised the quality organisation of the forum, which, she said, enabled experts to interact with ICT pioneers and benefit from their rich experience.

The kingdom's e-Government's experience was also praised by the Director of Business Development and Future Communications Department at Dentsu Inc. Mr. Kei Shimada who lectured on "Thinking Smart, Japan" and asserted that an advanced e-government requires developed infrastructure.

Regarding the Managing Director and Founder of UK-based "User Vision" Mr. Chris Rourke, he presented a paper on "Creating e-Government success through usable, citizen-centered service design across channels". In his lecture, he called for the need to provide easy quality services for a big number of citizens, including those with special needs, through designing services that provide them via different available channels.

He also praised the e-Government Authority's new National Strategy, noting that it will advance services provided for the Bahraini people.

On his part, senior e-Gov expert in Estonia Mr. Hannes Astol expressed admiration of "e-Key" system to enable citizens to securely access electronic services in the public and private sectors.

http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/503514