Doha: Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, Chief Executive of the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA), participated in the panel discussion titled "Digital Governments in GCC Countries" during the MENA eGovernment Workshops 2025, held in Qatar on April 23-24. The workshops were organised in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and brought together leading experts, officials, and decision-makers in the field of digital government and transformation.
According to Bahrain News Agency, Al Qaed commended the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) leadership in digital transformation as reflected in the 2024 UN eGovernment Survey. He highlighted the continuous efforts of GCC countries and the collaborative work of GCC ministerial, executive, and technical eGovernment committees dedicated to coordination in GCC eGovernment efforts. These efforts have contributed to enhancing digital transformation and improving the quality of government services in the region, ultimately benefiting citizens and residents. He also emphasised the value of knowledge exchange and ongoing collaboration with the UN through international workshops to develop digital transformation indicators.
Al Qaed called for enhanced cooperation to advance the GCC-level Digital Twinning Programme, which aims to highlight the region's achievements in digital transformation both regionally and internationally. He also referenced Bahrain's launch of the pilot digital twinning programme in December 2024, describing it as a step towards fostering regional collaboration, building capacities, and sharing expertise.
During the panel, Al Qaed showcased Bahrain's key digital initiatives that have improved the Kingdom's rank in the UN eGovernment report to be 18th globally. He highlighted the national efforts and projects that supported this achievement, including the recently launched MyGov App, eKey 2.0 App, adoption of AI into government services, and the strategic direction of government apps merger.
He also highlighted Bahrain's experience in adopting cloud computing in the public sector, noting its added value in accelerating digital transformation and government service delivery. In addition to the Kingdom's efforts in building a robust and reliable infrastructure, developing policies and legislation, and launching intensive training programs to upskill government skills in cloud technologies.
Al Qaed underscored the importance of leveraging advanced single sign-on and authentication systems in GCC countries to have integrated authentication across GCC countries. This integration may facilitate secure authentication and expand shared services across the Gulf for GCC citizens, while maintaining data privacy and security.
Al Qaed further emphasised the need to continue the improvement of UN indicators methodologies in collaboration with the UN and member states, ensuring their alignment with the region's digital transformation status. iGA CE proposed the improvement of the Human Capital Index (HCI) through assessing digital learning strategies, national education plans, and recognizing the countries efforts in upskilling their national workforce with internationally accredited professional certificates, being a critical element for advancing national digital transformation across all performance indicators.
He concluded his intervention in the panel by highlighting the importance of such international forums and workshops in advancing global digital transformation, expressing his appreciation to the Qatar Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and UN DESA for organizing the workshop and supporting initiatives that empower digital governments.
On the sidelines of the workshop, Al Qaed met with Arpine Korekyan, Head of Public Administration at the Digital Government Branch, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government of the UNDESA. The two sides discussed the cooperation with the UN in the domains of digital transformation and eGovernment, as well as a review of the Kingdom of Bahrain's experience in its Digital Twinning Programme with the Republic of Tunisia and the Comoros Islands.
They also explored means to expand the digital twinning initiative to include a greater number of countries, in addition to discussing the possibility of activating and implementing certain proposals to enhance future UN reports. The two sides highlighted the importance of such engagements in exchanging expertise and supporting the development of UN member states.