Interior Minister chairs GCC IT meeting

Interior Minister, Lieutenant-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa chaired here today the fifth meeting of the GCC e-Government Ministerial Committee, in the presence of General Secretary of Economic and Development Affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). 
The Interior Minister delivered the following speech at the beginning of the meeting:
"I’m glad to welcome you all in the 5th meeting of the GCC e-Government Ministerial Committee that is held in your second country, the Kingdom of Bahrain. This meeting if a fruitful results of the ongoing cooperation to develop joint Gulf work in the e-government field to meet the inspiration of Their Majesties and Highnesses GCC leaders.
"I would like in this occasion to hail the achievements and efforts of your committee and the executive committee of the GCC e-Government, and its dedication to refer valuable recommendations and initiatives to your esteemed ministerial committee that has contributed in the comprehensive launching of the GCC e-government strategy.
"Until today, seven initiatives have been implemented of GCC e-government programmes as part of efforts to develop joint e-projects and enhance the provided services to GCC citizens, through various joint initiatives; to reinforce technical cooperation and joint work to enrich the exchange of expertise in a positive way, push forward the GCC work process and meet the inspirations and requirements of GCC citizens. 
There is no doubts that our Gulf countries have progressed in the use of information and modern technology and acknowledged by international organisations, such as the United Nations in its report published in 2016 on their readiness in e-government field, and they were ranked among the first ten in the West Asia in the GDP growth, education, the dedication of GCC governments to invest in national e-portals and the offering of comprehensive e-services.
"They also achieved high positions on the human development resource indicator. This is a source of honour for all of us and good results of the efforts of all involved in the executives and ministerial committees. This is the result of the endless support of our wise governments for the sector to provide comprehensive government services that are available for all through optimal utilization of technology.
"Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
"Although many implemented joint initiatives represented the priority of the e-government strategy, you are aware of the ongoing cyber attacks against the GCC system, therefore there is a need to develop our e-systems to face e-security challenges and work harder through coordination between GCC countries to protect the security of information.
Today we feel the results of such efforts by the approval of the GCC Safety and e-Security Strategy, while we stress the importance to continue our cooperation and coordination with other security authorities to tackle cyber crimes, as they are now an international growing industry.
"We are looking forward through today’s meeting to discuss the report of the General Secretariat about the implemented decisions of the previous meeting and following up the implementation of joint initiatives as part of the e-government strategy. We hope that today’s meeting will include the launching of suspicious internet addresses project as part of efforts to achieve direct response to the hacking attacks in more active and comprehensive method. Finally, I welcome you once again in the Kingdom of Bahrain and wish you a good stay. May God bless our efforts. Peace, mercy and blessings of God."
After that the GCC General Secretary of Economic and Development Affair s, Khalifa bin Saeed Al Abri asserted in a speech that the ministerial meeting that was formed five years back has achieved distinguished results in e-government , expressing his hope for the launching of joint GCC e-services.
The committee member launched the system of the suspicious internet addresses that could be monitored by the GCC computer emergency centres as prevention methods. The attendees discussed a number of related-topics. 

Source: BNA