Bahrain's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has witnessed changes and rapid developments over the past year, Transportation and Communications Minister Kamal Ahmed said yesterday.

"The kingdom has an environment that is characterised by productivity and development in the field of ICT, according to international standards," Ahmed said during the opening of MEET ICT and Bitex Conference and Exhibition.

The three-day event, being held at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre, includes workshops, business matching sessions and meetings and exhibits that aim to enhance the experience of the participants and enable them to exchange knowledge and ideas on different platforms, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

According to the minister, IT and ICT, key sectors in their own right, were also integral components of the infrastructure needed to enable and facilitate industries like services, finance and tourism.

He said the government was keen to advance the sector in view of its potential in creating suitable job opportunities and boosting the national GDP.

The event is a collaborative effort between Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH) and Bahraini firm WorkSmart.

BTECH chairman Ubaydli Ubaydli said if Bahraini enterprises could take advantage of the booming Gulf market and increase their capability and efficiency, their share of the GCC region's IT industry could rise from six per cent currently to 10 per cent.

WorkSmart chief executive Ahmed Al Hujairi said he saw cloud computing and Big Data as the two top innovation hubs in ICT and hence they were chosen as the key themes of the event this year.

"Together they have the potential to become pivotal enhancers of social transformation and economic development for many years to come," he said.

Bahraini ICT businesses need to look at going beyond the kingdom's shores as it was a small market by itself and look at the much bigger markets like Saudi Arabia ($15 billion), Kuwait and Qatar.

Following the opening session, Mr Ahmed opened the Bahrain International Exhibition of Technology (Bitex 2014), which has seen the number of exhibitors rise by about 20 per cent year-on-year to 70.

The participating companies are from many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy and India, in addition to Bahrain.

It covers various ICT sectors, training and education systems solutions for remote banking, insurance, healthcare and software. - TradeArabia News Service