Mobile commerce is a new style of trade characterised by fast growth, inclusiveness and the unity of competition and governments globally are gearing up for it, a senior minister has said.

Bahrain’s Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro said mobile commerce is present in all commercial activities, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

This includes sales, purchasing and money transfers through payment gateways via handheld devices, which are now within the reach of the average user, he said.

The minister was speaking at the opening of the eighth Annual Gulf e-Commerce Forum (GeF) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel under the theme "Mobile Commerce: Technologies, Applications and Updates".

Dr Fakhro said the rapidly growing prevalence of e-commerce has led to many technological developments and governments too have had to put in place regulation accordingly.

He added that Bahrain intends to keep pace with global developments in information and communication technology (ICT).

The kingdom occupied the first place globally and regionally in the ICT knowledge index launched by the World Bank.

GeF8 will also shed light on concepts such as M-Data, M-Banking and other enablers of M-commerce. - TradeArabia News Service