Bahrain is to receive a major United Nations (UN) award for its e-government services, a report said.

The country earned second place in the category of Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Bahrain and several other countries will be given the awards during a ceremony at the United Nations Public Service Forum on Thursday, on the final day of the event.

The UAE was the regional winner honoured for its e-government services.

Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, UN Under-Secretary-General and special adviser on Africa Maged Abdelfatah Abdelaziz, Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak, Shura Council chairman Ali Saleh Al Saleh, Ethiopia Deputy Prime Minister Muktar Kedir and Kyrgyzstan Deputy Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbayev spoke at the forum opening.

The event, at the Bahrain National Theatre, was attended by more than 40 ministers representing 28 countries.

Delegates from more than 85 countries are also participating, making this year's forum the best attended in the 11-year history of the event.

"This is an event started by the UN General Assembly in New York, who designated this day as public service day to honour the public servants of those countries around the world that are part of the UN," said UN resident co-ordinator Peter Grohmann.

"I think what Bahrain can take from this is the large array of experiences, as there has never been an attendance such as this, it is the biggest as I have heard that there are more than 40 ministers from different countries.

"We will hear a variety of different experiences with the hope of learning something new and countries will be able to find out new ways to improve the services to the people also to see who has done something innovative."

The four-day forum is being held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad and aims to help develop the sector. As part of the event a series of workshops will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit. – TradeArabia News Service