The Information & eGovernment Authority announced the renewal of the institutional contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the contract with Computer World, a partner of Amazon Web Services, during a ceremony organized by the Authority on this occasion, in the presence and participation of senior officials and representatives of entities in the government sector. In a speech, the Chief Executive Officer of the Information and eGovernment Authority, Mohammed Al Qaed, emphasized the keenness and interest of the government headed by the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to continue investing in digital infrastructure and adopting more initiatives that support digital transformation. Al-Qaed talked about the impact of the partnership with Amazon Web Services, explaining that it has enhanced the readiness of the technical infrastructure and contributed to the transfer of more than 85% of government operations and systems for 72 entities to the cloud, in addition to establishing 4 new government agencies directly on cloud computing with Reducing the operating expenses of the government technical infrastructure by a rate ranging from 60 to 80%, and reducing the period of preparing the technical infrastructure for government projects by 60%. More than 900 Bahrainis have also been trained in cloud computing technologies. During his speech on this occasion, he stressed that the stride made by the Kingdom of Bahrain in the field of cloud computing has made it a center of excellence in the development of cloud computing in the region, and that it is now working on rehabilitating national data centers to host government systems that could not be transferred to external cloud computing to be the Kingdom of Bahrain. One of the first countries to implement the idea of Hybrid Cloud computing, and it is expected that the rehabilitation of the centers will be completed by 2024. The Chief Executive Officer, Al Qaed, indicated that a number of systems have been developed during the past period that serve important sectors in the Kingdom, such as the municipalities, urban planning, health, finance, and education sectors. And others, by employing cloud computing technologies with high efficiency, which contributed to rationalizing expenses, reducing the time required to develop projects, raising the degree of security, and enhancing the speed of completion. He also stressed that the Kingdom today, in light of the distinguished expertise it possesses in the fields of digital transformation and cloud computing, has become working to provide the necessary support and is keen to exchange experiences with countries in the field of capacity building and systems development in light of the existence of a legislative environment that enacts laws and adopts the necessary policies to meet the needs of projects. The strategy supports the economic recovery phase, and also works to build the capabilities of its national cadres and provide them with new experiences that qualify them to implement digital transformation projects and keep pace with the rapid developments, referring to the launch of the Authority, in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Tamkeen, for the Technical Development Program, which is comprehensive and covers various fields. Many such as processes, applications, systems development, data analysis, and others. He stressed that Amazon Web Services’ adoption of the Kingdom of Bahrain as the first regional center to provide cloud computing services in the region has enhanced the ease of transition of government systems and processes to the cloud computing environment, and contributed to the rapid adoption of the policy (cloud computing first) in the government sector, making the Kingdom of Bahrain today the first An Arab country adopts this policy and is one of the first countries in the world, pointing out that the government sector is one of the largest and most important beneficiaries of Amazon services in the Kingdom. Wojciech Paida, Director of the Public Sector in the Middle East and Africa at Amazon Web Services, confirmed the support and provision of the Bahraini government with all the expertise it needs to support its journey towards cloud and digital transformation, according to best practices and implementation strategies to ensure the successful adoption of cloud technologies. He also stressed the company’s keenness to invest In the field of developing and refining community skills through educational initiatives, providing resources and training opportunities to provide individuals with the required digital skills, achieving their empowerment in this field and promoting innovation, and in light of this it is working with the Government of Bahrain in order to develop and enhance the skills of national competencies in the Kingdom in the field of information and communication technology and their readiness for By enhancing their abilities in dealing with practical practices to be well prepared for their future jobs.
