IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

"In order to prevent current and future challenges in the implementation of e-services, a center for electronic signature certification closely integrated with the automated tax information system has been established under the Ministry of Taxes," Minister of Taxes Fazil Mammadov said on Thursday at a conference titled "ASAN-signature as a key to mobile government".

The Information Technology Centre of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has launched a new platform of the "Electronic Government" mobile authentication portal - e-Gov.Identity, the centre told Trend.

The e-Gov.Identity platform, connected with the subscriber’s phone number, is a login and password, or e-signature used for an access to e-gov.az.

Taxes Minister Fazil Mammadov has claimed that for the transition from e-government to the principle of Mobile Government the Ministry created a center for certification of mobile e-signature.

Within its framework international experts have remarked upon for uniting programs on e-government and m-government.

Ibrahim Kushchu, founder-director and associate professor of the International Consortium of Mobile Government, says that m-government is an analog of e-government in a more unique option.

The centre presented an application that will provide access to the e-government portal through mobile devices.

Informed sources say that the system is provided in order to improve access to state e-services and promotion of the use of digital signature in the country.

"This system will enable to use electronic digital signatures of the subscribers of mobile operators that will expand much the range of access to state e-services and the use of digital signature," the source emphasized.

The mobile portal and common service centres (CSCs) are the latest channels being used to provide government services to the public.

They were launched by Cabinet Affairs Minister and Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology member Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatala Al Khalifa and e-Government Authority (eGA) chief executive officer Mohammed Al Qaed yesterday.

Announcing the launch, the eGA director of service delivery and channel enhancement Feras Ahmed said this comes as part of the authority's continuous objectives that aims to make the use of eServices easier and more convenient.

The Government Apps Store was launched by Kamal Bin Ahmed Mohammed, the Minister of Transportation during the opening ceremony of MEET ICT 2013 yesterday.

Announcing the details, vice CEO Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhaja said the store currently provides 21 applications and there are plans to increase the total number of apps to 26 by the beginning of 2014.

Mr. Mohammed Ziad Asfour the Assistant Director of Marketing and Awareness Department at the eGovernment Authority, stated that: "Mobiles are widely used among most age categories in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The penetration of mobile usage reached 150% according to latest statistics, therefore the mobile gateway was launched to provide another version of the eGovernment portal via mobile phones to provide the public with modern and simple means to communicate with the eGovernment at anytime and anywhere".

The launch was announced by Minister of Transportation Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed during the inauguration of the 'MEET ICT 2013' conference today (December 10) at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Customers can enter their 13 digit ‘mail number’ to track their shipments online through Bahrain’s egovernment portal, or through a smartphone app, available free for Android and iOS-based phones. Users can download this app through the mobile section of the egovernment portal.

By the beginning of September, customers will be able to use their handsets to settle utilities accounts. Currently, residents are only able to use their mobiles to check the amount they owe.

The agreement was signed by Mohammed Al Qaed, CEO of the eGA and Stefan Moraes, Managing Director of Third Wave International, which recently established its regional headquarters in Bahrain after seeing the potential for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in the Kingdom and the emphasis placed on developing this field in its policies and overall strategies, in accordance with the Bahrain 2030 Vision.

The eGovernment Authority of Bahrain (eGA) signed an agreement with Affno, a leading provider of e-Government solutions and Third Wave International, Affno's Middle East partner, to manage and execute the mobile portal in Bahrain.

The agreement was signed by eGA chief executive Mohammed Al Qaed and Third Wave International managing director Stefan Moraes.

The service was launched yesterday, as part of Bahrain's e-government programme, at a ceremony held at the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), Isa Town.

It has been developed by the CIO, represented by the GIS (Geographical Information System) and the Addresses Directorate.

As stipulated by the strategy, the eGovernment Authority will offer 200 basic government services to the public through 4 channels – eGovernment National Portal, Mobile Portal, Common Service Centers and the National Call Center. To date, 90 eServices are available through the National Portal (www.bahrain.bh) with the rest set to launch at various stages until the end of 2010.

The country reached its first million mobile subscriptions in 2002 and achieved the 10 million mark in 2005. Within a span of four years from then, 50 million subscriptions were reached in 2009. Although, GSM is a second generation (2G) technology mainly focusing on voice, it has helped increase the internet literacy of the country, enabling more than six million people to access the internet, which makes up for more than 80% of all internet users in Bangladesh.

They also urged the government to take steps to produce cheap smartphones for farmers so they can reap the benefit of advanced technologies.

They spoke at a roundtable on the application of ICT in the agriculture sector, at the office of the Prothom Alo, a Bangla daily, in the capital.