Her Excellency Mrs. Amna bint Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, and Dr. Zakariya Al-Khaja, Executive Vice President of Electronic Transformation at the Information and e-Government Authority, participated in a panel discussion entitled "Accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals and climate action through public digital infrastructure and digital public goods", which was organized by the Ministry Sustainable development and environment in the Republic of Singapore, with the participation of the Republic of India and the Republic of Rwanda, in addition to the Kingdom of Bahrain, within the framework of the Kingdom’s delegation’s participation in the meetings of the High-Level Political Forum held at the United Nations Headquarters in the American state of New York.
During her intervention at the event, Her Excellency Mrs. Amna Al Rumaihi pointed out the importance of providing the digital environment in modern urban communities, noting that the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain was early aware of the importance of including the elements of providing digital infrastructure in the planning of modern cities.
The Minister pointed out that the plan of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning to implement the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the country, may God protect and preserve him in 2013 to provide 40,000 housing units, was based on providing 5 modern housing cities, in which all elements of sustainability and planning components are available. modern urban. Therefore, the necessity of providing these cities with communications networks and smart pipelines was taken into account in the planning and implementation stages of those cities, which contributed to providing an integrated system for fixed lines, wireless technologies, and fiber technology.
The Minister said that the Kingdom has continuous development visions for the future of technological infrastructure, and that these standards are constantly included in the planning of new cities and regions in particular, while constantly working to modernize current technological networks to provide a better digital environment for citizens.
For his part, Dr. Zakaria Al Khaja, Executive Vice President of Electronic Transformation at the Information and eGovernment Authority, confirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the leading countries in the field of using advanced technologies, with a focus on employing these technologies to support direct services provided to citizens, in a way that ensures easy access to them, noting that The Kingdom is moving steadily towards completing a comprehensive digital transformation plan for all services.
Dr. Zakaria said that the global spread of the Corona virus pandemic showed the importance of the digital sector in achieving the flexibility necessary for business continuity, noting that this pandemic contributed to expanding the scope of national digital transformation initiatives and launching more electronic services.
Dr. Zakaria Al Khaja added that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the first countries to support technical institutions and companies, and is keen to provide the appropriate regulatory environment for them, as the Kingdom appreciates the great role of these institutions in advancing the national digital economy.
