The eGovernment Excellence Awards will be presented at the opening ceremony of the Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2009 on May 25.

The awards will build upon the tremendous success of last year’s competition, which resulted in all GCC member states adopting the award themselves at local levels, according to  Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, chief of the eGovernment Authority (eGA) in Bahrain.

Bahrain has proposed the organisation of these national competitions as a preliminary round in the first half of the year to qualify for the GCC-wide awards, to be held at a GCC Summit.

“The eGovernment Excellence Awards aims to spread awareness about the important role eGovernment plays in Bahrain,” Al Qaed said, “as well as encouraging ministries and citizens alike to make use of the various eServices available to them.”

The eGovernment Excellence Awards is divided into 3 main award groups and 9 categories.

The Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2009 is organised by the eGA in cooperation with the Bahrain Society of Engineers, the Bahrain Information Technology Society, and the Bahrain Internet Society and will feature a range of activities over the course of the event.

The main exhibition, EGEX 2009, will see participation of a number of Government bodies in Bahrain together in the main eGovernment Authority display stand, as well as a large number of regional and international eGovernment regulatory authorities and ICT organisations.

Two specialised workshops will also be held before the launch of the Forum.-TradeArabia News Service