Bahrain has moved up the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) readiness index to 45th in the world, according to the Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2008.

The kingdom showed the biggest improvement in the region, climbing six places.

The Middle East showed the strongest regional growth in the report published by World Economic Forum in conjunction with Insead, one of the world's leading business schools.

Now in its seventh year, the report compiles an index to rank the level and sophistication of the knowledge economy in 127 countries.

It measures a countries capacity to generate, absorb and adapt technology to meet national needs and improve competitiveness.

Bahrain improved last year's ranking of 51 by six places and is now ranked third in the region behind the UAE 29 and Qatar 32.

Kuwait and Qatar each climbed four places. Saudi Arabia and Oman were included in the report for the first time this year.

Insead External Affairs dean and co-author of the report Soumitra Dutta said "As a region, the Middle East has made the highest progress in networked readiness over the last seven years with the number of internet users in the area soaring by more than 600 per cent, three times the world's average increase."-TradeArabia News Service