From E-Government to Good Governance and from Good Governance to Development... The Arab world in the global E-Government readiness report 2005 Arab E-government

More than 30 international and regional speakers will be addressing a wide array of e-government issues at the inaugural Government Technology Middle East Conference & Exhibition (Govtec), being held in Bahrain from February 13 to 15.

Convened under the official patronage of Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Abdulla Fakhro, and supported by the Central Informatics Organisation, Govtec features international case studies from Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Ireland, Scotland, Dubai, Egypt and Bahrain and will debate key issues facing public sector administrators such as open source architecture, IT governance, citizen-centric government, public private partnership and m-government.

International thought leaders addressing the conference include Dr Simon Moores, vice-chairman of the Conservative Technology Forum; Dr Costis Toregas, president Emeritus Public Technology Institute; Christine Leitner, European Institute of Public Administration and Jeremy Millard of Danish Technological Institute. In addition, the conference also features presentations by Salem Al-Shair, head of eServices, Dubai e-government; Mohammed Al Amer, director of Information Technology, Central Informatics Organisation, Bahrain; Chris Hadden, Strategic Consultant, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, United Kingdom; and senior e-government officials of Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland and Scotland, among others.

“We are very pleased with the quality and diversity of the speakers – this is by far the region’s most comprehensive and content-rich conference on the subject of e-government,” said Paul Stott, managing director, Media Generation Group, the event organisers.

“With three days of strategic presentations by an unrivalled roster of recognised e-government visionaries, the conference offers an outstanding opportunity for public sector officials to share experiences, examine case studies and identify best practices.”

The prestigious conference, produced by Media Generation in strategic partnership with the Central Informatics Organisation and the Bahrain Convention & Exhibition Bureau and in cooperation with Dubai-based ITP Events, runs alongside a tightly focused exhibition featuring a wide array of specialised e-government solutions from leading vendors.

Key sponsors and exhibitors participating in GOVTEC 2006 include Microsoft Corporation, IBM-GBM, Batelco, Tata Consultancy Services, Novell, NCS, Crimsonlogic, Al-Faris Information Technologies, Somac IT and ZFP-IT.