Bahrain has taken the first place among Arab countries in the eGovernment Readiness category of the UN eGovernment Survey 2016.

Bahrain was also classified, for the second consecutive time, in the Very High eGovernment Development Index, listed among the top advanced countries in the world.

Such classification is achieved by countries which attain a rank higher than 75 per cent of the total report’s indicators which exceed 400 criteria. Only 29 countries have received such high rank from a total of 193 countries which the report covered, officials said.

The report ranked the kingdom at 24 within the eGovernment Readiness on the international level. The UAE took the second spot in the region, ranked 29 globally. Kuwait (40 globally) took the third spot, followed by Saudi Arabia (44), Qatar (48), and Oman (66).

The report praised the efforts undertaken by the GCC. It also highlighted the mutual initiatives of the states in regularly organising the GCC eGovernment Conference to exchange experiences, accelerating eTransformation as well as improving their indicators within the report.

The Telecommunication Infrastructure Index of Bahrain witnessed a noticeable development to occupy 11th position internationally following its 26th rank in 2014. Such advancement was measured according to indicators such as the number of internet users, apart from the number of subscribers for main fixed telephone lines and mobiles, wireless broadband as well as fixed broadband.

The Human Capital Index positioned the kingdom at rank 77. This index measures adult literacy, gross enrolment ratio including university education, expected years of schooling as well as mean years of schooling per capita.

Within the Online Service Index Bahrain positioned itself at 22nd rank. The index measured, according to this indicator, a set of key components represented in government integration, delivery of multi-channel services, bridging the digital gap, increasing utilization ratio and the publicly available government data as well as eParticipation.

Information & eGovernment Authority chief executive Mohammed Ali AlQaed highlighted that Bahrain maintained its lead despite the challenges it had experienced, including spending cuts and the standards added to this report’s edition comprising the measurement of Smart Cities which require massive spending to achieve. - TradeArabia News Service