Seventy new electronic projects are to be launched in Bahrain in the next few years, it has been declared.

Deputy Prime Minister and Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa said the move would allow everyone to communicate and interact direcly with government departments through social and technical channels.

Shaikh Mohammed was speaking while opening the fourth Bahrain International eGovernment Forum at the Isa Cultural Centre, in Juffair.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Bahrain had taken a giant leap towards eGovernment excellence and had positioned itself as one of the leading players in the field.

'It is thanks to the efforts of the eGovernment Authority that such important developments have taken place,' he said. 'These developments have enabled Bahrain to win several international awards as well.'

During the event, the winners of the Bahrain eContent Award 2011were also announced.

Topics related to the latest technologies employed in the domain of the public and the businesses sector including the open data platform will be explained, during the three-day forum which officially continues at the Gulf Hotel today and tomorrow.

Major challenges encountered to augment the transparency level and means to promote eParticipation amongst citizens and to provide public services will also be discussed.

The forum will also include the European Union's experience in the domain of cloud computing, the new system followed as platform to provide service to the government or private sectors.

A Bahrain information technology expo, to be held along with the forum, will also have the participation for all exhibitors and visitors which include the eGovernment Authority, a number of ministries and governmental entities from Bahrain, various eGovernment authorities for the GCC and other countries as well as ICT companies and private sector entities.

More than 800 delegates from Bahrain and abroad are taking part.-TradeArabia News Service