Bahrain has tied up with international organisations to improve the Arab eContent and develop it accordingly to suit United Nations standards, Cabinet Affairs Minister Kamal Ahmed said.

Speaking during a ceremony to present Bahrain and Arab eContent awards at the Gulf Hotel, he said creating a knowledge based community is Bahrain's long-term mission and was coming to reality.

The awards, and an accompanying IT Expo, are part of the Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2011, which concludes today.

'Such a prestigious information communication technology community will be an added value and an essential factor for development in different sectors, particularly in the social and economic aspects,' he said.

'We are hosting the Arab eContent Award 2011 for the second time in a row and we hope this will encourage innovation for Arab eContent at a regional and an international level between the United Nations and the World Summit Award (WSA).'

He said Bahrain's initiative comes following its commitment and leading approach towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals through the use of ICT, and to enable Arab countries to compete internationally with their projects and excel according to the global standards set.

'The winning projects will represent the Arab region where it will qualify to compete at the WSA.

'It will also be evaluated by a jury consisting of experts in the ICT field, who will ensure all transparency according to international standards and criteria in the eContent sector.'

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Supreme Committee for Information Technology chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa opened the IT Expo at the Gulf Convention Centre. He also later presented the awards to the winners.-TradeArabia News Service