Deputy Premier patronises e-Government Excellence Award 2019 Ceremony

Manama, Apr. 28 (BNA): Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, patronised here today the eGovernment Excellence Award 2019 Ceremony, and the tenth anniversary of the award. Chairman of the Shura Council and Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Deputy Prime Ministers, ministers and guests attended. Addressing the ceremony, the deputy premier expressed pleasure at patronising the event, noting that Bahrain’s quantum accomplishments in the information and communication technology (ICT) field and keeping abreast of the rapid international advancements in light of the informatics evolution come as assurance of its highly-esteemed position in this field and its maintenance of advanced indicators in developing IT. This is evidence on its adoption of its advanced positions on the competitive level regionally and internationally within the ICT, he added. "Since its launch in 2008, the eGovernment Excellence Award is one of the most significant national initiatives that has clearly contributed to encouraging innovation and establishing the principle of excellence. It has enabled it to grow and develop every year in the ICT sector. Its delivery of the culture of knowledge amongst society segments and entities has represented a base of developing services and support of infrastructure as well as sustainable development," the deputy premier also said. "Adopting initiatives that motivate innovation and excellence has made the Kingdom of Bahrain a model for modernisation and progress regionally in the field of supporting online excellence. The Award has added to Bahrain’s records of accomplishments – the latest being achieving the 26th rank globally and 5th in Asia, 4th internationally in the Telecommunications Infrastructure index," he added. "This year’s Award encompasses nine categories including introduction of new categories in the Private Sector that aims at showcasing its services aspect to beneficiaries. It also continuous to highlight various outstanding national initiatives in the ICT sector in order to develop programs, services and projects addressed through a comprehensive digital system which reflects the true direct support of the government to ministries and governmental entities to set policies and necessary legislations as well as provide advanced high-quality services." "Our celebration today of the eGovernment Excellence Award 2019 winners is only an appreciation of their contribution and creativity. We always seek to continue the Award in the following years. Furthermore, we congratulate them all for what they have presented from outstanding projects that made them reach this podium. We also express our gratitude to the members of the Jury Committee, organisers and concerned entities throughout the past years for their efforts. Additionally, we would like to thank all participants who enriched the award with their projects, as well as winners who put forward unique projects that qualified them to win with a merit. We wish all of them the best of luck and success in achieving the best future in this field," he concluded. Winning projects in the Government Sector included: -‘Best Government-to-Government eService (G2G)’: the Ministry of Interior’s Takatuf Service developed in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Women, along with Ministry of Finance and National Economy for its Government Integrated Procurement Management System. - Award for ‘Best eGovernment Integrated Services for Individuals or Businesses’ was won by the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning (Municipalities Affairs) for its Benayat Building Permit System. -Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities’ Social Media accounts won the ‘Best Practice in Community eParticipation’ award. -The award ‘Best Application for Smart Devices’ was granted to the Electricity and Water Authority for its EWA App. -The ‘Best eGovernment Website’ award was granted to the Central Bank of Bahrain for its website. Private Sector winners included: The Bahrain Airport Services for their iBAS Service which won the ‘Best eServices’ award. AlRawi Media W.L.L. won for its AlRawi App in the ‘Best Application for Smart Devices’ award. Individuals’ Sector winners included: -First winner: Mr. Mohamed Ahmed AlBuainain for the ‘Best eConcept’ award which was granted for his submitted project which enhances contact with the government through the implementation of artificial intelligence in ‘Tawasul’ system. -Second winner: ‘Best eConcept’ award was given to Ms. Zainab Jaafar Akwaid for her automated solution for obstructed traffic between involved parties. -Third winner: The ‘Best eConcept’ award was given to Mr. Ahmed Mohamed AlBuainain for his concept eBelediye project. -The eCitizen Award was given to the two citizen winners Mr. Mohammed Abdulraheem Hasan Bucheeri (for obtaining the highest value of transactions across all eGovernment channels during 2018) and Mr. Moahmmed Abduljalil Ebrahim Jassim Shehab (for obtaining the highest number of transactions across all eGovernment channels during 2018). During the ceremony, Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive Mr. Mohamed Ali AlQaed expressed his gratitude for His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa for his patronage of the award and support for it since its first launch in 2008. He also expressed his pride in holding the award’s 10th year hand-in-hand with concerned public entities. He stressed that this accomplishment is not limited to the IT sector alone but has exceeded by developing and strengthening the IT infrastructure which the Kingdom of Bahrain holds today. He also congratulated the winners who, he said, deserved the honouring by His Highness for the excellent projects and concepts they have submitted. He also emphasised that the award has contributed directly to enhancing competition among government departments regarding the encouragement of technological initiatives, according to the latest practices, and has raised the quality level and efficiency of eServices provided to citizens and residents in the Kingdom. It has been keen on encouraging the principle of eParticipation and opening the doors for entrepreneurs in the technology sector, in line with the directives of the Government Action Plan, he added. AlQaed also addressed, through his presentation, the role the Award has played throughout the ten years by its mark in the ICT sector locally and regionally and on both the public and private sectors, in addition to individuals, considering that it is a strategic platform for the Information & eGovernment Authority that highlights the ICT leading initiatives in the Bahraini society. He indicated that the award has set the quality marks on the façade of major national projects which have been launched as emerging projects and had won by the award. It has developed and climbed the leadership ladder across the past years and today became comprehensive, integrated systems linked with all relevant entities after it had been a major drive for the development process – whether these projects have been public or private. During the ceremony, a short documentary film was presented to showcase the eGovernment Excellence Award’s journey throughout the 10 years. It showcased the broad milestones of the award along with distinguished developments and innovation. The deputy premier toured the accompanying exhibition of the award which comprised around 30 winning projects and initiatives that were nominated to win, alongside special projects selected this year by the Jury Committee for the presented distinguished technological solutions.